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COPYRIGHT DEPOSnV 



ODERN SUNDAY SCHOOL MANUALS 

Edited by Charles Foster Kent in 
Collaboration with John T. McFarland 



The Graded Sunday School 
IN Principle and Practice 

By HENRY H. MEYER 




NEW YORK: EATON & MAINS 
CINCINNATI : JENNINGS & GRAHAM 






Copyright, 1910, by 
HENRY H. MEYER 



(g,.G!,A^>61(>77 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction v 

PART ONE 
The Graded Sunday School in Principle 

CHAPTER 

I. The Educational Emphasis in the Work 

of the Sunday School 3 

II. The Teacher : Place and Essential Qualifi- 
cations 9 

III. The Pupil : Complex Nature of Conscious- 

ness 18 

IV. The Pupil: Infancy and Childhood 26 

V. The Pupil : Early Adolescence 36 

VI. The Pupil: Middle and Later Adolescence 47 
VII. The School: Scheme of Organization and 

Grading 55 

VIII. The Curriculum or Subject-Matter of In- 
struction 68 

PART TWO 

The Graded Sunday School in its 
Historical Development 

IX. Early Beginnings in the International 

Field 85 

X. The International Uniform Lessons 93 

XI. Steps Toward the Graded System 102 

PART THREE 

The Graded Sunday School in Practice 

XII. Three University Schools 115 

XIII. Other Typical Schools 126 

iii 



iv Contents 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XIV. Denominational and Independent Courses 

and Text-Books 141 

XV. The International Graded Course 155 

XVI. Grading the Local School 172 

XVII. Supervising the Graded School 183 

XVIII, Supervising the Graded School (con- 
tinued) 193 

XIX. Professional Preparation and Advance- 
ment of Teachers 205 

XX. The School of To-Morrow 215 

APPENDICES 

A. Summary by Chapters, with Questions for 

Review 225 

B. Selected Bibliography 239 



INTRODUCTION 

The introduction in 1872 of what has since 
been known as the system of Uniform Lessons 
gave coherency to Sunday-school instruction. It 
is easy now from the side of pedagogy to point 
out many serious defects in this system, but it 
had the merit of being a system intelHgently con- 
ceived. System of almost any sort is better than 
chaos ; but the Uniform System had some very 
distinct intrinsic excellences and advantages. It 
is not necessary to denounce what we discontinue. 
There were some great battles fought in the past 
with arms which would now be considered very 
crude; and our civilization is greatly indebted 
to the results of those battles. We may well look 
with respect upon weapons with which brave men 
fought and gained epoch-making victories. The 
world's fields were planted and its harvests 
gathered in for many centuries with implements 
at which the modern farmer would smile ; never- 
theless the world was fed with the products of 
the fields so cultivated. Arms and implements 
are important, but the personal factor is the great 
thing. The issue, after all, depends upon the man 
behind the bow or the repeating rifle, the man 
behind the primitive sickle and the present-day 
reaper. If we have better agencies than our 
predecessors let us be thankful but not vain- 
glorious. In adopting new methods in education 
modesty is becoming. It remains to be seen what 



vi Introduction 

we can or will accomplish with our new instru- 
ments. Those who wore the armor which we 
purpose to relegate to museums performed heroic 
deeds in that armor; in buckling on the new 
armor we may not boast as those who are laying 
off the old. We must make proof in larger and 
richer results of the superiority of the new sys- 
tem. 

This does not mean, however, that there should 
be any lack of confidence in the new. When we 
are convinced that a new system is based upon 
truth we may adopt it with full assurance that 
it will work successfully. Truth always works 
successfully, at the first trial as well as ultimately. 
The principle involved in the system of Graded 
Lessons now being introduced, however, is not 
undemonstrated or uncertain. It has been tried 
out through many years in the field of general 
education. It is in full operation in every prop- 
erly organized public school. The public school 
has been the laboratory and experiment station in 
which the principles of the new education have 
been put to the test. These principles may now 
be carried into the Sunday school with entire con- 
fidence. The essential principle on which this 
new system rests is so simple that its statement 
is enough to make its soundness self-evident, 
namely, that the material and the method of pre- 
senting the material of instruction must be de- 
termined by the needs and abilities of the pupil 
in the progressive stages of his development. 
There can hardly be any argument over this 
proposition. It is the simple recognition of the 
fact that in education the pupil must hold the 



Introduction vii 

central place. The child is to be educated ; there- 
fore we must first of all know the child, what his 
needs are, what his capacities and appetencies 
are ; after that it is merely a problem of furnish- 
ing such material as will be most easily assimi- 
lated by his mind and built up into the structure 
of his nature and character. 

It is an entirely vain thing for us to lament that 
this system, which seems so evidently rational, 
was not adopted long ago. We could indulge in 
equally vain lamentations over a thousand other 
good and true things which were not discov- 
ered and adopted centuries ago. Such regret is 
only a quarrel with the law of evolution accord- 
ing to which all progress is made. The millen- 
nium is not at the beginning but at the end of the 
ages, and the ages will run very far into the 
future and the final order is not yet in sight. It 
is doubtful whether this new system in religious 
education could have come any sooner, or that 
it would have been better if it had done so. 
There is a timeliness in events determined by the 
fundamental laws of progress. A new system of 
any kind is always a complex of many factors. 
In this case knowledge had to be extended along 
many lines; more particularly growth of knowl- 
edge was necessary concerning the nature of the 
child and concerning the nature of the Bible, the 
chief source of material for the religious educa- 
tion of the child. Fifty years ago knowledge 
neither concerning the child nor the Bible was 
sufficient to have made possible the introduction 
of a system of graded instruction into the Sun- 
day school. A valid graded curriculum could not 



viii Introduction 

have been formulated much if any sooner. Now 
we see the necessity for it, and at least with some 
degree of certainty we are perceiving what its 
elements and order should be. This volume is 
the first systematic attempt to state the principles 
and aims of the new system in connection with 
at least a partially elaborated series of courses of 
study embodying and illustrating those principles, 
together with practical suggestions for the in- 
troduction of the new plans into the Sunday 
school. The author would not anticipate that his 
book would be in any sense the final word on this 
subject ; rather its service lies in the fact that it is 
the first clearly articulate word on a subject on 
which many words remain to be spoken. 



PART ONE 

THE GRADED SUNDAY SCHOOL IN 
PRINCIPLE 



THE EDUCATIONAL EMPHASIS IN THE 
WORK OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 

Religion and education were once more inti- The Religious 
mately related both in theory and practice than Mo«vein 
they are to-day. In Israel the prophets, the Eduction 
priests, and the sages administered such popular 
education as existed outside the family circle, 
while the synagogue and the temple courts were 
the two centers from which radiated the educa- 
tional and cultural influences of the nation. The 
motive in Hebrew education was distinctly re- 
ligious. Nor was it otherwise during the early 
Christian centuries among the nations yielding 
to the sway of the new faith. The- first schools 
of the Qiristian era were the catechetical schools 
connected with the local church and conducted 
by the officiating bishop or one of his assistants 
in the ministry. The early church fathers from 
Justin Martyr to Augustine were also the recog- 
nized schoolmasters of their times. During the 
Middle Ages such schools as existed clustered 
about the monasteries, cathedrals, synagogues, 
and village chapels under the direct influence 
and supervision of the clergy, and from the most 
prominent and influential of these monastic and 
cathedral schools there developed in the twelfth 
and thirteenth centuries the educational insti- 
tutions since known as universities. The names 
of Alcuin, Abelard, Thomas Aquinas, Erasmus, 
and Moses Mendelssohn are as familiar to the 
3 



4 The Graded Sunday School 

student of educational history as to the student 
of theology. In the post-Reformation develop- 
ment of church and school we find the same par- 
allel, with this difference, that the school becomes 
gradually more important, though the aim of 
education continues to be for the most part 
distinctly religious, and its control remains di- 
rectly or indirectly in the hands of the church. 
The systematic reorganization of the Jewish sys- 
tem of education in western Europe dates from 
about the beginning of the nineteenth century. 
In the eastern countries of Europe, in Russia, 
Roumania, and Turkey, Jewish education is still 
restricted to religious (Talmudic) study and is 
as yet wholly aloof from general culture.^ 
Change in The rise of state and national public-school 

Control and systcms independent of ecclesiastical control falls 

Motive , , A . , . , 

almost wholly withm the past two centuries. 
Even in America the transition in education from 
ecclesiastical to state and municipal control has 
been gradual, while in England and on the 
European continent the process of the seculariza- 
tion of popular education is still far from com- 
pleted. In America the passing of education 
from ecclesiastical to state control has brought 
with it a steady broadening of the course of 
study in both elementary and secondary schools, 
and in colleges and universities, until religious 
instruction, which once constituted the major 
part of all instruction, has been reduced to a min- 
imum or entirely eliminated from the curriculum. 
Among the forces at work to bring about this 
change have been the progress made in the fields 

1 The Jewish Encyclopedia, vol, v, p, 48f . 



Educational Emphasis 5 

of science and invention and the consequent un- 
paralleled industrial development of the country 
together with the rapid growth of cities. This 
has made the introduction of the sciences and of 
industrial branches into the course of study im- 
perative, while the increase in the national wealth 
and general prosperity has created a demand 
for a larger recognition of art and literature and 
of the cultural studies in general. 

With this broadening of the scope and aim The piace of 
of education and the elimination of its strictly the Sunday 

... 11.1 1 School in 

religious purpose and elements has come a grad- Modem 
ual specialization of educational effort, until to- Education 
day distinctive types of schools exist for all sorts 
of professional and industrial training. Mean- 
while the Sunday school — in its origin and early 
history but one of several institutions for the 
secular instruction of the poor and neglected 
classes — has almost alone preserved the distinctly 
religious motive which earlier had inspired all 
educational effort. It has gradually become, at 
least in America, the recognized institution for 
specialized elementary instruction in religion and 
morals. At its best the curriculum of the modern 
graded Sunday school compares favorably both 
in scope and content with that of the best ele- 
mentary schools two hundred and fifty years 
ago, with this difference, that the Sunday school 
is no longer under the necessity of teaching the 
elements of reading and writing, being thus left 
free to address itself entirely to the accomplish- 
ment of its specialized religious aim, whereas the 
public elementary school of two centuries and 
a half ago taught reading, writing, and spelling 



Disadvantages 



6 The Graded Sunday School 

in order that its pupils might be able to read the 
Bible and study the catechism. 
Limitations In Comparison with the public elementary 

tIl-».i,.-^v-»»» school of the present or with other contemporary 
institutions offering specialized forms of train- 
ing, the Sunday school is in several respects at 
a great disadvantage. It is denied right of way 
and must content itself with a small fraction of 
the time during which its pupils and teachers are 
free from such other mental and manual labor 
as may constitute their daily task and regular 
employment. Its teachers are for the most part 
untrained, with little or no professional prepara- 
tion for their special work. Its supervising force 
is often deficient and imperfectly organized. It is 
poorly housed and equipped, its needs are seldom 
considered in the annual budget of the church. 
Its discipline is bad. The educational aim of the 
Sunday school is as yet too often ignored, with 
the result that the institution has become in many 
places a juvenile appendage to the church proper, 
in which the appeal is almost wholly to the 
conscience and to the emotions, with little if any 
systematic instruction. Many of these inherent 
disadvantages of the institution as a whole have 
been effectually overcome in individual schools 
in which a right appreciation of the Sunday 
school has led to the introduction of a carefully 
graded course of instruction. 
Original It is encouraging to note the recent revival 

Purpose ^ of the educational emphasis in Sunday-school 
instruction. Originally, in the work of Robert 
Raikes, John Wesley, Bishop White (Phila- 
delphia), and their immediate suQcessojrs both. 



Educational 



Educational Emphasis 7 

in England and America, this aim clearly pre- 
dominated. The religious motive back of their 
work was real, and furnished in large measure 
the inspiration for the entire movement from 
the first. But the Sunday school remained a 
school in fact as well as in name during more 
than fifty years from the time of its earliest 
establishment. After that it gradually became Later- 
less educational and more evangelistic in its pur- Evangelistic 
pose and effort. In sparsely settled frontier 
communities and in neglected urban districts 
the Sunday school came to be the usual and 
recognized forerunner of the church, and great 
has been its service in concentrating the religious 
life and influence of the community in church 
fellowship. 

It is no disparagement of the worth of this Educational 
evangelistic emphasis and service of the Sunday Emphasis 
school, however, to insist that the crowding out ^^'^^ ** 
of the more distinctly educational element from 
its program has brought with it a loss both to 
the Sunday school itself and to the church, of 
which it has in the meantime become an integral 
part. Only where this educational interest has 
been safeguarded, where systematic and thorough 
Bible instruction has taken the place once given 
to the teaching of reading, writing, and spelling, 
has the Sunday school in recent years measured 
up to its opportunity and fulfilled its mission. 
Where and in so far as it has, on the other hand, 
become for church members and their children 
a convenient (usually inferior) substitute for 
the regular church service; wherever it has 
opened its doors to questionable forms of emo- 



8 The Graded Sunday School 

tional evangelism wholly foreign to the normal 
religious development of child life; wherever it 
has yielded to the morbid demand for statistics 
and tabulated in bold-faced type the measure of 
its spiritual achievement; wherever it has been 
denied a fair consideration in the annual church 
expenses and been looked upon rather as a con- 
venient auxiliary for the raising of money for 
other benevolent enterprises; wherever, in short, 
the Sunday school has been diverted from its dis- 
tinctly educational purpose, there it has been, 
at least in recent years, largely a failure. 
Question of It is uot meant that systematic and thorough 

Motive and instructiou in any sense excludes the religious 
or even the evangelistic emphasis, but rather 
that such instruction is fundamental and abso- 
lutely essential to the accomplishment of the 
highest and best results in the stimulation and 
development of the religious life. It has been 
the task of the best Sunday schools in recent 
years to demonstrate anew the fact that the 
educational emphasis and the deeper religious 
purpose in Sunday-school work are not mutually 
exclusive, but that, on the contrary, each is es- 
sential to the other, the one furnishing the motive 
and the other the best method for its attainment. 



Method 



II 

THE TEACHER: PLACE AND ESSENTIAL 
QUALIFICATIONS 

The three determining factors in religious as Factors in 
in secular education are the teacher, the pupil, and Educational 
the school with its curriculum or course of study. ^^°^*®"^ 
The first named of these factors, the teacher, is 
perhaps not the most important of the three, but 
in a manual intended for teachers it offers a con- 
venient starting point for the discussions that 
are to follow. The problem of the school be- 
longs peculiarly to the teacher; and only to the 
extent to which the teacher masters that problem 
in all its phases and bearings is there hope for 
improvement and progress. 

Fundamentally the problem of the teacher is The Teacher** 
the same whether his chosen field of work be Problem 
that of secular or religious education. Every 
teacher is dealing, on the one hand, with truth, 
which he must come to regard, not in the nar- 
rower sense as constituting simply the knowledge 
content of the subject in which he undertakes to 
impart instruction, but in the wider sense of 
reality, of life itself in its totality and in its 
multiple relations and forms of manifestation. 
And the problem of the teacher is by means of 
his chosen subject to lead the pupil out into 
broader fields of thought and to give him an 
intelligent conception of life as a whole and an 
appreciative attitude toward it. It is to bring 
life and reality into reciprocal relation with the 
9 



!0 



The Graded Sunday School 



Teaching Not 
a Pouring 
Process 



The Process 
of Learning 



mind of the pupil in such a way that truth may 
become his personal possession. 

Many will remember when the method of ac- 
complishing the teacher's task was conceived of 
as being a simple process of pouring. The 
teacher loomed large and high above the pupil, 
like a huge pitcher, the exhaustless reservoir 
of knowledge, while the pupil, conceived of as 
a smaller empty vessel or cup, submitted patiently 
to the process of being filled, sometimes in short 
order and to overflowing. This was the time 
when, after a few brief years spent at academy 
or boarding school, sons and daughters returned 
home the proud possessors of a "finished" edu- 
cation. Fortunately, that time has passed. At 
least we have to-day no such conception of edu- 
cation. We have come rather to regard life as 
a school in which every person, old or young, 
is a pupil and in which the process of acquiring 
knowledge is never completed and, sometimes 
at least, is quite independent of all formal school- 
room instruction. Hence we speak of the grad- 
uating exercises as a "commencement," that is, 
the beginning of a larger growth in knowledge 
and in the power to achieve. 

The human mind is self-active, and apart from 
its self-activity there can be no acquisition of 
knowledge, no understanding of truth, either 
scientific or religious. The storehouse of truth, 
moreover, is not the instructor, however well 
equipped for his work, nor yet the course of 
study, no matter how well articulated and com- 
plete, but the environment of pupil and teacher 
alike; and the process of learning is a process 



The Teacher : Place and Qualifications 1 1 

of the normal functioning (working) of a self- 
active human mind in the midst of a living, 
throbbing, pulsating environment. 

The teacher can at best hope, in any given Essential 
instance, to facilitate this process. This he will ^"^T^'^^** °^ 

1 * i i 1 • r t ♦ *^® Teacher 

be able to do only m so far as he recognizes 
clearly the two factors with which he has to 
deal. He must know the truth he is attempting 
to teach and understand its purpose and function 
in relation to the life and destiny of the pupil. 
But he must also know intimately the pupils 
who for a time, perhaps during a critical period 
of their development, are dependent upon him 
for wise direction and sympathetic guidance as 
well as for formal instruction. He must know 
both their powers and their limitations and 
wisely shape their educational environment in 
such a way that the growth of body, mind, and 
spirit may proceed normally. 

Educational theory has long laid stress on the The Teacher 
knowledge element of the teacher's problem. JJ"''*^/!°'^ 

Ail. /. i it i ^** Subject 

And as the science of pedagogy has advanced 
we have come more and more to emphasize the 
necessity of a thorough and ever more thorough 
mastery of truth in all of its ramifications. It 
is essential for the teacher to recognize the im- 
portance of knowing not simply the facts which 
he is expected to communicate to his pupils, but 
the significance of these facts historically, so- 
cially, and racially. 

In the field of religious instruction, and more insunday- 
espedally in Sunday-school teaching, to-day it ^f^l^^^ 
is not sufficient that the teacher shall simply 
know the lesson narrative a little better than 



1 2 The Graded Sunday School 

the members of his class, and be able to draw 
from that narrative a few obvious moral teach- 
ings; the teacher must know more. The Bible 
is not a sorcerer's book, the separate verses and 
sentences of which are surcharged with mystical 
import and power, wholly apart from their con- 
text, but a library containing the sacred books 
of the Hebrew people and of the Christian 
Church. Each of the separate books of this 
library, moreover, like Longfellow's Evangeline, 
or the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, has an author 
or authors, known or unknown, a history, a 
peculiar form and purpose, a national character, 
and historical setting. The Bible, considered 
as a text-book of religion, like any text- 
book of science (for example, geography), has 
been of gradual growth. The revelation of di- 
vine truth which it contains is progressive in 
character, and not all of the books of the sacred 
canon are of equal importance or value. This 
indicates at once the scope of the teacher's es- 
sential knowledge and preparation in so far as 
it relates to the Bible, not to mention the many 
branches of correlated knowledge and the ex- 
haustless treasures in art and literature, in his- 
tory and in the sciences which the thoroughly 
equipped religious teacher will have at his com- 
mand. 
The Untrained A word of recognition is due here to the host 
Teacher's of busy, faithful tcachcrs who, after a week of 
toil in office, shop, schoolroom, or home, have 
done their best without this fuller preparation. 
Theirs has been a worthy and not unfruitful 
service, prompted as it has been by a sense of 



Service 



Lessons Make 
Possible 



of Subject 



The Teacher : Place and Qualifications 1 3 

duty and by love. To an untrained and meagerly 
equipped teaching force the Sunday school of to- 
day is largely indebted for its present strength 
and for such results as it may have achieved. 
Nevertheless to any teacher who has done his 
best there is open a still larger vision and a 
greater task; and it is part of the purpose of 
this manual to set forth that task and to show 
how the introduction of a carefully graded 
course of study into our Sunday schools will aid 
in its accomplishment. 

The introduction of a graded curriculum with Graded 
a limited and definitely prescribed amount of 
work to be accomplished in each grade will enable Better 
every teacher, even the one with the least time f/^°^\®^p 
for special preparation, to do better work. The 
graded Sunday school impHes graded teachers, 
who teach in the same grade and consequently 
cover the same ground year after year. They 
do not move forward with their classes, but teach 
the same subjects and the same general series 
of lessons to a new group of pupils each year. 
It is advantageous, of course, for the individual 
teacher at some time to have the experience of 
teaching pupils of different ages. This experi- 
ence may be gained by permitting teachers to 
accompany the first classes to which they are 
assigned up through three or four successive 
years before assigning them permanently to defi- 
nite grades. Ultimately, however, each teacher 
should specialize in the work of a single grade. 
This makes it possible for each teacher to master 
more thoroughly the subject-matter of his par- 
ticular grade, and enables him to improve his 



14 The Graded Sunday School 

teaching from year to year by the selection of 
new and better illustrative material. Time that 
would not prove sufficient for the satisfactory 
preparation of an entirely new lesson each week 
will yield larger returns when spent with equal 
faithfulness in adding to one's knowledge of 
a subject with which he is already reasonably 
familiar. The elements of psychology and child 
study, the fundamental principles of pedagogy, 
the essentials of method in teaching and other 
subjects are within reach of even the busiest 
teacher who is doing grade work in a fairly well 
equipped and graded Sunday school. Indeed, the 
hope of a more general improvement of teachers 
in service, the hope of any large success in de- 
nominational and interdenominational teacher- 
training plans, is bound up with the success or 
failure of the graded Sunday school. 
Knowledge No ouc Can tcach that which he does not know. 

Neither can anyone teach all he knows. To teach 
a little it is necessary to know more. To teach 
a part it is necessary to know the whole. ^ A 
teacher's knowledge of his subject will never be 
complete. Steadily increasing knowledge, how- 
ever, begets in the teacher a real enthusiasm 
for his work which in turn will spread to the 
members of his class, who will soon come to 
share his interest in the subject-matter in hand. 
Knowledge gives the teacher confidence in him- 
self and inspires in his pupils respect for his 
teaching and authority. Knowledge gives right 
perspective and enables the teacher to select for 



is Power 



* Compare Horne, Psychological Principles of Education, pp. 
43-46. 



The Teacher: Place and Qualifications ! 5 

special emphasis the essential things in a lesson 
or course of study. Thus knowledge is power, 
and it is the consciousness of this power that 
adds joy to the sense of duty in the Sunday- 
school teacher's work. 

But in addition to a knowledge of his subject The Teacher 
the teacher must know his pupils. He must M"stKnow 
know them as individuals and the abilities, lim- *^ "^'^ 
itations, and peculiarities in which each differs 
from the others. He must know them as a group 
of approximately the same age, and the general 
traits and tendencies which are to be looked for 
in their present stage of physical, mental, and 
spiritual development. But no matter how large 
the class, a knowledge of the individual pupil is 
also necessary to the best work in teaching ; and, 
no matter how abstract and difficult the subjects 
of psychology and child study which give the in- 
formation may appear, a knowledge of the pupils 
in general is equally indispensable. 

To know the pupil either as an individual or understand- 
as a member of a group means for the teacher, ^^ethe 
first of all, that he must understand the complex ^fa'^^e of 
nature of the unfolding consciousness. Books consciousness 
of pedagogy and on the principles of teaching 
in the past have dealt too exclusively with the 
mental development of the pupil and with the 
principles which underlie intellectual education. 
They have sometimes overlooked the fact that 
in the unfolding consciousness of the pupil 
the elements of feeling and of will — or, rather, 
the element of feeling and the instinctive im- 
pulses, the tendencies and the habits from which 
the moral decisions of later years grow — are just 



16 



The Graded Sunday School 



Its Importance 
in Religious 
Education 



Stages of 
Development 
in Child Life 



as important for the well-rounded growth and 
development of the individual as is intellectual 
knowledge. 

It is of the utmost importance for the Sunday- 
school teacher to recognize the fact that the 
proper stimulation and guidance of the emotions 
and the will is as essential to normal religious 
development as is the training of the intellect. 
There is a real danger lest, in seeking to make his 
work more educational, the religious teacher give 
to the term ^'educational" a meaning so narrow 
as to make it synonymous with "intellectual." 
He will escape this error, and incidentally discover 
the key to a scientific interpretation of the 
unfolding religious life, if he will familiarize him- 
self with the contents of a single standard text- 
book on child study, such as, for example, Kirk- 
patrick's Fundamentals of Child Study or 
Taylor's The Study of the Child, with the sug- 
gestive little text of Coe's on The Spiritual Life, 
or the volumes of the present series which deal 
in detail with this theme. 

But the teacher must also understand some- 
thing about the successive stages of development 
in child life, and the characteristics by which 
each stage is distinguished from the others. 
What are the impulses and natural instincts of a 
boy of seven years? of a girl at sixteen? How 
may these impulses be utilized in the religious 
training of the pupil? What is the best form of 
lessons for boys and girls of the Junior period, 
from eight to twelve? for Senior pupils, from 
sixteen to twenty? What is the proper age at 
which to emphasize obedience to authority? 



The Teacher : Place and QuaHfications I 7 

When is the altruistic feeling, with a growing 
interest in the welfare of others, strongest? 
What shall be the special educational aim of the 
teacher with the pupils of his particular grade? 
These are some of the questions which a knowl- 
edge of the laws governing the development of 
child life will assist in answering. 

Again, many of the traits which a teacher dis- inherited and 
covers in a child are inherited, others are ac- Acquired 

, . .... Traits 

quired; and it may be of vital importance to 
know which traits are inherited and which are 
acquired, and also to what extent the teacher 
may hope to overcome unfavorable natural tend- 
encies and substitute by careful training more 
desirable character traits.^ 

It is therefore essential that the teacher's 
equipment shall include both a knowledge of the 
subject-matter of instruction and a knowledge of 
the pupil to be instructed. 



* Experimental psychologists to-day agree that while environment 
can give no general ability, capacity in every case being inherited, 
yet, on the other hand, heredity can in no case impart specific 
knowledge; and hence, while it remains true that original nature 
is an active force in determining, at least to some extent, a man's 
thoughts and acts, yet no given individual case is ever necessarily 
hopeless or beyond the possibility of influencing for good by intelli- 
gent and persistent training. The problem of the relative influence 
of heredity and environment is a problem of very great importance 
for the religious teacher, and one on which an intimate knowledge 
of the pupil will throw much light. 



Ill 



Central 
Position of 
Pupil in 
Education 



Education 
Furnishes 
Environment 



THE PUPIL: COMPLEX NATURE OF 
CONSCIOUSNESS 

In his endeavor to master the problem that 
confronts him and to equip himself for better 
service in his chosen field the teacher must study 
to know the child or pupil. Without the learner 
there would be no problem of education; the 
course of study would have no purpose and the 
teacher no work or function. The emphasis of 
modern pedagogy on the importance of the pupil 
as both the starting point and the key to the 
entire problem of education has made this factor 
loom large in recent discussions of religious as 
well as secular instruction. Modern educational 
thought recognizes in the child a self -active, 
gradually unfolding, living organism, placed by 
the Creator in the midst of the ''blooming, buzz- 
ing confusion" of a complex physical, intellectual, 
and moral environment. The child's growth is 
measured by his increasing power to adjust him- 
self advantageously to this multiform environ- 
ment for purposes of intelligent control. 

The process of individual development, more- 
over, is a life process, and one which follows an 
inner law of the individual life itself. Perfect 
development depends in the child, as in every 
living organism, upon a favorable and stimulating 
environment at each successive stage of the 
process. The business of education is to furnish 
that environment and to intelligently supervise 
16 



The Pupil : Nature of Consciousness 1 9 

and direct the process of the gradual unfolding 
of the life and powers of the pupil in that 
environment. 

The forms of self-activity by which the de- Forms of 
veloping mind reaches out and masters its en- seif-Activity 
vironment are those of feeling, knowing, and 
willing; and these are the means also by which 
the religious consciousness and life unfolds. 

The fundamental element in conscious life is Feeling 
feeling. By this we mean sense impressions giv- Fundamental 
ing rise to pleasure and pain ; the emotions, such 
as fear, joy, love, hate; aesthetic enjoyment and 
its opposite. Feeling is the gateway through 
which the individual life enters into a larger in- 
tellectual life. It is absolutely essential to both 
knowledge and will. Without it there could, 
indeed, be no conscious life. 

In the religious life, also, this element of con- in the 
sciousness is fundamental. In the process of the ^^^^ff^o'^s Life 
religious development of the race it came first. 
Man felt the presence of God, the All-powerful 
and Everywhere-present, the Infinite, before he 
understood intellectually the significance and 
character of that presence. To the touch of God 
man responded emotionally with fear and rever- 
ence. But as the process of rationalizing that 
response has advanced, albeit by faltering steps, 
through the various primitive conceptions of 
divinity to the present-day Christian notion of a 
personal God and a beneficent heavenly Father, 
the element of fear has yielded more and more 
to adoration and love. In religious education, 
therefore, the cultivation of the emotional life is 
of the utmost importance, as will be recognized 



20 



The Graded Sunday School 



The Intellect 



Intellectual 
Factor in 
Religious 
Education 



The 

Knowledge 
Content of 
Religion 



if one seeks in thought to subtract from any given 
religious experience every feeling of reverence, 
awe, and adoration, every aspiration and all that 
belongs to an appreciation of ideals of life and 
character. 

The intellect is that instrument of conscious- 
ness by means of which man acquires knowledge ; 
and the development of the mind's power to know 
the truth constitutes intellectual education. This 
includes training in sense perception, in memory, 
in judgment, and in reasoning. It implies a 
higher form of consciousness than that which is 
necessarily involved in feeling. 

The importance of this intellectual factor in 
religious education is obvious. Without it re- 
ligion would degenerate into sentimental emotion- 
alism on the one hand and into superstition on 
the other. Its prominence may vary with the 
age and peculiarity of the individual or group, 
and with the immediate purpose of religious in- 
struction at any given time or during any given 
period, but it will never be entirely absent. It 
is indispensable in the culture of the emotions 
and in the training of the will. 

Meager as is our scientific knowledge of God 
and of religious truth, there are nevertheless 
some things which are known and which in the 
total constitute a vast body of organized and 
well-articulated facts touching the phenomena of 
personal religious experience and the historical 
development of religion. We possess the sacred 
books of most of the religions of mankind, and 
by familiarizing ourselves with their contents 
we may think again the thoughts of the great 



The Pupil: Nature of Consciousness 21 

religious teachers of all ages. Among these 
books is the Bible, in itself no inconsiderable 
library of books, the sacred heritage of two 
great faiths. Its influence upon the religious 
life of the world and upon the development of The Bible : 
human history has extended over more than o^^ and New 
thirty centuries. In the Old Testament there Testaments 
have been preserved for us crystallizations of 
the best religious thought and the highest re- 
ligious aspirations, not only of the Hebrew 
people, but of other ancient civilizations with 
which the Hebrews came in contact. The civ- 
ilizations of Babylonia, Assyria, and Egypt, to- 
gether with the roving tribes of the desert, 
brought their tribute to the religious genius of 
a weaker and often subject people. In the hand 
of the inspired prophets and seers of Israel crude 
religious concepts and primitive rites and cere- 
monies of polytheism were transformed and 
beautified and given a place of honor in the 
temple and worship of Jehovah. In the New 
Testament we possess a trustworthy record of 
the life and teachings of Jesus. We have there 
also the story of the establishment and early de- 
velopment of the Christian Church, together with 
the interpretation which the earliest apostles and 
their immediate successors placed upon the life- 
work of Jesus. And this tribute to the Bible, 
wholly apart from the question of our interpre- 
tation of its religious message, is sufficient to 
emphasize the essential importance of thorough 
Bible instruction in any system of education 
worthy of the name. 

But in addition to the Bible we possess a record 



22 



The Graded Sunday School 



other 

Reli^ous 

Literature 



The Will 



Free Will 
Questioned 



of the subsequent history of the Christian Church, 
with the story of its heroes and martyrdoms, and 
its ultimate triumph over pohtical opposition; its 
failures and lapses in days of opulence and pros- 
perity, and its subsequent chastening and re- 
newed successes in world evangelization. We 
possess the creeds and formulated dogmas of the 
early Church, with the later interpretations given 
to these in the specific doctrines of the several 
branches of the Church, the product of devout 
meditation of sincere men of strong minds on 
the mysteries of the faith. We possess the ac- 
cumulated treasures of a wonderful Christian 
hymnology and a boundless literature inspired 
by the Christian faith. We possess the light shed 
by science and philosophy upon personal religious 
experience, which enables us to understand and 
interpret the gradual development of the religious 
life and faith in the individual. All this belongs 
to the intellectual equipment of the educated re- 
ligious consciousness, and as such finds its place 
in the subject-matter of any course of religious 
instruction which properly and adequately recog- 
nizes the importance of the intellectual element 
in the unfolding of the religious life. 

The third factor in consciousness demanding 
consideration is the will, the power of choice in 
action. In many respects this is the most im- 
portant of the three elements. 

We have to do here with that element in con- 
sciousness which most sharply distinguishes man 
from the lower animals. As regards feeling and 
knowing, the difference between man and beast 
is a difference of degree rather than of kind. 



The Pupil : Nature of Consciousness 23 

Animals feel and know; they do not exercise 
free choice. Indeed, the scales of motive and 
effort, of desire and choice, are so delicately 
poised in man as to make it difficult, if not im- 
possible, to decide whether in a given instance it 
was the desirability of the end to be obtained or 
an independent volition which determined action. 
Professor James thinks this can never be de- 
termined, and, while not going so far as some 
psychologists and denying absolutely the freedom 
of the will, he nevertheless is forced at the end 
of a most discriminating discussion to conclude 
that *^the question of free will is insoluble on 
strictly psychologic ground." ^ Fortunately, we 
are not dependent upon psychology to settle the 
question. 

But while there are those who question the Freewm 
freedom of the will, there are doubtless many Overestimated 
more who overestimate the power of free choice 
and the extent to which it determines action. 
During by far the greater portion of man's ex- 
istence he is a creature of habit; his life moves 
smoothly forward in a well-worn groove of daily 
routine, the delicately adjusted mechanism of 
mind and body responding in succession to stimu- 
lations from without and from within. Occa- 
sionally he is discomfited for a moment by the 
competing claims of several fairly balanced inter- 
ests, but ever and again he yields to the interest 
presenting the strongest appeal. And it is well 
that this is so, for without the economy of time 
and effort made possible by habit the simplest 
actions of our daily life would require such 

* Psychology: Briefer Cotirse, p. 456. 



24 



The Graded Sunday School 



The Task of 

Religious 

Education 



Beauty, 
Truth, and 
Holiness 



serious thought and dehberation as to make 
progress and achievement impossible. It is only 
in the rare moments of self -consciousness on the 
pinnacles and higher levels of our thinking, when 
we are brought face to face with self seen in the 
perspective of the total trend of our life, that we 
can will to change the direction of the current, 
and having once decided either way we neces- 
sarily lapse again into a life of habit. 

The bearing of these facts upon the problem 
of education, and more especially of religious 
education, will be clear if we remember two 
things: (i) That while willed action, involving 
moral decision between right and wrong, is a 
product of the higher states of consciousness, it 
nevertheless has its roots in instinctive actions and 
impulses; (2) That children, perhaps all children 
under the age of approximately twelve years, 
are incapable of independent moral decisions, 
and that so-called willful actions in small chil- 
dren are but the overflow of uncontrolled in- 
stinctive impulse. And, since this is the case, 
religious education, in order to bring about 
right choices upon a rational plane later in life, 
must in the earlier years wisely stimulate and 
direct correct instinctive tendencies, cultivate de- 
sirable emotions, inculcate high ideals, and aid 
in the formation of right habits. 

Feeling, knowing, willing — these, then, are the 
three elements entering into human conscious- 
ness and consequently into the religious expe- 
rience of the individual. It is important to 
remember that each of these elements is essential 
to the normal functioning of the others. Religion 



The Pupil: Nature of Consciousness 25 

involves the whole of consciousness as a unit, 
and a religious life from which any one of these 
three factors is wholly absent is unthinkable. In 
the normal religious life the three elements will 
be present in well-balanced if not in equal pro- 
portions. The aim of religious education is to 
develop in the pupil a normal, well-rounded re- 
ligious life in which the intellectual element shall 
temper the emotional and rightly guide the will, 
in which knowledge shall be quickened by lofty 
emotions, and in which feeling and intellect shall 
in turn be subject to a disciplined will; where 
beauty, truth, and holiness, the broken rays of 
that light which lighteth every man, shall blend, 
revealing Him whom to know and love and serve 
is life eternal. 



IV 



Obvious 
Differences 
Between 
Children and 
Adults 



Mental 

Differences 

Greater 



THE PUPIL: INFANCY AND CHILDHOOD 

That there are marked physical and mental 
differences between children and adults and be- 
tween children of different ages is obvious, though 
precisely wherein these differences consist it 
might not be easy for the average person to state. 
It is possible, for example, to "form some idea 
of the age of a person represented in a picture 
or statue when there is nothing to show the scale 
upon which it is made." ^ But just what the 
peculiarities of form and proportion of parts at 
different ages are upon which in such cases the 
judgment is based is not so evident. Thus proba- 
bly only those who had given special thought and 
attention to the matter would know without being 
told that the height of the head in an adult is to 
that of an infant as two is to one, that the length 
of body in an adult is three times that of an 
infant, while the relative proportion in length of 
arm is as four is to one, and in length of leg as five 
is to one.^ The changes from infancy to maturity 
in the size and even in the function of certain 
organs are not less striking. 

When we come to investigate the mental dif- 
ferences between children and mature men and 
women we find these much greater, more com- 
plex, and much more difficult of analysis than 
are the physical. Yet it is precisely these dif- 
ferences which in the process of growth mark 

i Fundamentals of Child Study, p. i. 
26 



The Pupil: Infancy and Childhood 27 

the successive and measurably distinct periods of 
mental and moral development in children and 
youth, and which therefore concern the teacher 
who desires to adapt both the subject-matter and 
the method of instruction to the pecuHar needs 
of his pupils. 

In general four great periods in the life process General 
and development may be distinguished. These Period* in 
are: i. Childhood, including infancy, and ex- 
tending from birth to about twelve years; 2. 
Adolescence, from twelve to about twenty-five; 
3. Vigorous maturity, from about twenty-five to 
the beginning of senile decay; and, 4. Senile 
decay, from about seventy to death. Education 
is concerned more especially with the long period 
embracing childhood and adolescence. These in 
educational discussions are sometimes grouped 
together under the general term "infancy," which 
in such cases means immaturity. More fre- 
quently, however J a further subdivision of child- 
hood and adolescence is made somewhat as fol- 
lows : 1 

Period Age Limits 

Infancy, up to 3 

Early childhood, 3 to 8 

Later childhood or boyhood and girlhood, 8 to 12, 13 
Early adolescence, 13 to 16 

Middle adolescence, 16 to 18, 19 

Later adolescence, 18-19 to 25 

The age limits indicated for the successive sub- 
periods are, of course, somewhat flexible, vary- 
ing with race, climate, nutrition, and general 



1 For other practical outlines of the stages of individual life the 
reader is referred to Haslett's The Pedagogical Bible School, pp. 87fiE. 



28 



The Graded Sunday School 



Significance of 
Childhood and 
Adolescence 



Religious 
Significance 



health. The most radical change comes with the 
attainment of puberty which marks the dividing 
line between the two main periods. Within each 
of these there is more or less overlapping of the 
sub-periods indicated. 

The great significance of the long period of 
immaturity in the individual is its plasticity, by 
which is meant that condition of mind and body 
which makes learning possible. Plasticity begins 
with Hfe and reaches its height at about eighteen 
years of age, after which time it again gradually 
decreases. ''Physiologically speaking," says Pro- 
fessor Home, "education is primarily modifica- 
tion of the central nervous system. It is much 
more, to be sure, but without this education could 
not be. Because of the changing character of this 
nervous system education must do its work while 
it can." 1 

In the development of the religious life and 
for the religious teacher childhood is preem- 
inently significant because the more primitive and 
fundamental traits come first, and these are fol- 
lowed in successive definite stages of growth by 
other increasingly complex characteristics. Thus 
the instinct of selfishness, or self-interest, which 
is the fundamental force impelling to self -enlarge- 
ment and self -development, manifests itself in the 
individual long before interest in the welfare of 
others, or altruism. And it is well that it is so, 
for if the tendency to share and give away one's 
possessions preceded the desire to acquire for 
oneself, or was more fundamental in human 
nature than the latter, the acquisition of larger 

* Philosophy of Education, p. 38. 



The Pupil : Infancy and Childhood 29 

personal possessions by the individual, whether 
of a material, intellectual, or spiritual character, 
would be impossible. Religious as well as intel- 
lectual growth and development would also be 
out of the question. 

Each stage in the development of the religious Each stage a 
life of the child is in turn a preparation for the f^P*"^';"" 

1 <• 11 X . -11 r 1 for the Next 

Stage that follows. It is essential, therefore, that 
the religious teaching at any given time be suited 
to the particular stage of development that has 
been reached by the pupil ; and it is clear that if 
the needed religious instruction suited to some 
other stage be substituted, the religious growth 
cannot proceed normally nor reach in the end 
that measure of completeness and well-rounded 
maturity which should be the goal of such in- 
struction. 

INFANCY AND EARLY CHILDHOOD 

The predominating characteristic of life during Ages up to 
infancy and early childhood is physical activity. Three Years 
This is at first wholly instinctive and reflex, with- 
out purpose or clear consciousness. The newborn 
babe has neither intellect nor will as these are 
known in later years. Even its feelings are 
vague and blurred, with only here and there an 
outstanding oasis of comfort or a strong feeling 
of discomfort resulting from hunger, thirst, or 
pain. Gradually, however, instinctive actions 
lead to necessary physical adjustments; bodily 
movements become more regular and feelings 
more distinct and multiplied. As consciousness 
develops this again centers largely at first in 
feeling and in the instinctive effort to satisfy 



30 



The Graded Sunday School 



Training 

During 

Infancy 



Early 
Childhood : 
Ages Three to 
Bight or Nine 



physical needs. During this period the child's 
school is the home, and to the parent or guardian 
falls the task of guiding and watching over its 
development. 

Education, or training, during the period of 
infancy consists in ministering to the physical 
needs of the child in such a way that right phys- 
ical reflexes (habits) be established in such 
simple matters as eating, sleeping, cleanliness, 
and proper care for the body and in elemental 
manners. It consists further in the proper 
guidance and timely inhibition of the selfish in- 
stinct which, while fundamental in child life and 
essential to its development, needs to be con- 
trolled and sometimes checked. This means that 
certain acts must be constantly stimulated while 
others are prevented, that certain specific im- 
pulses shall be encouraged and perpetuated and 
others discouraged and eliminated. Thus the 
formation of right habits of physical action is the 
first work of education, whether secular or re- 
ligious. The process of learning during this 
period, in so far as it is dependent upon tutelage, 
is by means of imitation and obedience. 

There is no sharp dividing line between infancy 
and early childhood. Physical activity prompted 
by native impulse is still the predominating char- 
acteristic. This activity in little children has the 
appearance of restlessness because muscular 
action and bodily movements are as yet discon- 
nected and not under full control. In children 
under six years of age instinctive feelings are 
strong though short-lived. The selfish instinct 
dominates, manifesting itself in various forms, 



The Pupil : Infancy and Childhood 3 I 

among which a craving for recognition and ap- 
probation now appears. Imitation, curiosity, and 
a sense of rhythm are marked. The intellectual 
life moves upon the plane of concrete sense per- 
ceptions, supplemented by a fanciful imagination. 
The child is interested in things and persons and 
in simple concrete situations or events. This indi- 
cates at once the method of approach for the 
parent and teacher in seeking to wisely shape the 
environment of the child in such a way as to 
facilitate the process of its development. 

The foundations of character are laid during Laying 
this period in the formation of habits of polite- ^f°"^f*^*°"" 
ness, prompt and cheerful obedience, and frank- 
ness and loyalty toward teacher and parent. By 
means of simple stories which, in their cumu- 
lative effect, represent life in its truer, nobler 
forms the imagination may be guided into profita- 
ble channels. Correct example in speech and 
action, a gentle but firm authority, together with 
wise and constant suggestion, constitute the ap- 
propriate method of control. By means of these 
also the foundations of a religious life must be 
laid. In story, song, and simple service of prayer 
and worship the little child may be led to think 
of the heavenly Father who loves and provides 
for all his earthly children. 

The Kindergarten age merges gradually into Primary 
that of the Primary, which embraces usually the Period: Ages 
years six, seven, and eight, or sometimes seven, yj^^^ 
eight, and nine. The characteristics of this and 
the preceding periods are in the main not dif- 
ferent, though a sufficient number of new traits 
are present to warrant separate consideration of 



32 The Graded Sunday School 

the Primary period. In the first place, while 
physical activity is still prominent, during this 
period both the emotional and intellectual traits 
are stronger. Emotions are longer lived, though 
variable; love and real affection for others are 
beginning to develop. The sense of rhythm is 
still more marked, and if properly stimulated and 
directed may be made a lifelong possession of 
value. The imagination, v^hile it has lost none 
of its fancifulness, is better regulated and more 
dramatic. Curiosity has become insatiable, a de- 
sire to know the *'why" and the "how" of things 
being added to the interest in persons and objects. 
Hence obedience now becomes reasoned obedi- 
ence, with the sense of justice keener and, in 
situations not too complex or too difficult of 
analysis, reliable. Voluntary attention is emerg- 
ing, and memory of the verbal and objective 
type is strong. 
Guiding Children of the Primary age revel in wonder- 

stories and in stories of real life in which simpler 
heroic and dramatic elements are prominent. 
Their moral and religious life is shaped largely 
by imitation and by a recognition of the conse- 
quences of actions right or wrong. With the 
growing sense of personal possession there comes, 
under proper guidance, a recognition of the 
rights of others, which, in turn, serves as a check 
to selfishness. Faith during this period is strong, 
and a recognition and proper childlike attitude 
toward God as the loving heavenly Father is not 
difficult to inculcate. Suggestion, guidance, and 
example supplemented by authority is still the 
best method of control, while the simple story 



Childhood 
Impulses 



The Pupil : Infancy and Childhood 33 

with pictures and object illustrations constitutes 
the best form of lesson for use by both teacher 
and parent. 

The specific aim of formal religious instruc- images and 
tion during the Primary period should be to give seif-Ex- 
the child a stock of images expressing life in its p"^"°^ 
true relations and to provide simple forms of 
expressive activity for the child, such as the re- 
telling of the stories, the handling of pictures and 
objects, and the carrying out in action of the sug- 
gestions of heroism, kindness, and service con- 
tained in the lesson story. Prayer and worship 
and song should have a part in the lesson plan. 

BOYHOOD AND GIRLHOOD 

At approximately nine years of age there is junior period: 
in the life of the normal boy or girl a real tran- ^^^5*^^*0**° 
sition as the traits and interests of early child- Thirteen 
hood give way to those of full-fledged boyhood 
and girlhood. The middle point of childhood 
has now been left behind, and its later years 
(the period from nine to twelve is also called 
"later childhood") bring strange premonitions 
of impending physical and mental changes of yet 
greater moment and of riper years now rapidly 
approaching. This is, first of all, a period of 
slower physical growth and more uniform and 
certain health than was the preceding, which in 
this respect was the exact opposite. This in a 
measure accounts for the more rapid and more 
uniform intellectual growth which now takes 
place. 

Prominent among the fundamental changes Dawn of social 
which fall within this period is the beginning of consciousness 



34 The Graded Sunday School 

social consciousness, noticeable in the friend- 
ships formed, in the increase of love and sym- 
pathy for others, and in the dawning recognition 
of obligations toward others. The opposite side 
of the same tendency is seen in the sense of 
rivalry and emulation and, especially in boys, 
the developing spirit of pugnacity tempered by 
a tendency to defend the weak. With this awak- 
ening social consciousness there come also a 
stronger consciousness of self, a clearer recog- 
nition of right and wrong, and an awakening of 
conscience, which as a guide to action now takes 
the place of rules made by others. 

On the intellectual side several characteristics 
Larger of this period are noteworthy. Imagination is 

Thought nearer to real life, resulting in a growing tend- 

ency to careful observation and an insatiable 
desire for definite knowledge. Biography with a 
rich coloring of adventure, nature stories, and 
finally connected historical narrative are interests 
on which curiosity centers. Verbal mechanical 
memory, while not yet at its zenith,^ is strong 
and more conspicuous than a little later, when 
other traits and multiplied interests divert the at- 
tention from the acquisition and hoarding of pro- 
saic fact. Reason is rapidly developing, volun- 
tary attention is strong, and the interest in 
constructive activities marked. 

It is near the close of the Junior period that 
the parent and religious teacher may look for 



1 The popular theory has long been that after a certain age (about 
ten years) memory gradually declines, while the more probable fact, 
as revealed by modem child study, is that memory gradually and 
steadily increases till about the age of eighteen or twenty and 
thereafter remains constant until the beginning of senile decay. 



The Pupil : Infancy and Childhood 3 5 

the first definite spiritual awakening, the first a Period of 
religious crisis in the life of the boy or girl. Spi"tuai 
Sometimes a critical, that is, a questioning and ^* •* * ^ 
doubting, spirit manifests itself at the same time. 
In a favorable environment and under wise guid- 
ance religious faith should now become a definite 
force in regulating motive and action. For the 
parent the best method of control and training „ 

1 ' 1. .1 r Parental 

durmg this period would seem to be that of a Fellowship 
larger fellowship with the boy or girl — a fellow- 
ship in respectful obedience to definite laws of 
conduct and life, a fellowship in work and play, 
in worship and in meditation, and in a small 
portion at least of some daily occupation. 

The Sunday-school teacher cannot hope to junior Sunday- 
share his pupil's life in the same way. Yet he teacher's 
may do several definite and important things for opportunity 
his Junior boys and girls. He may see to it that 
the mind is stored with the best biblical images 
of strong and noble character, and that the pupil 
through his interest in biography makes the ac- 
quaintance of the great heroes and champions 
of faith of all ages. He may lay wise emphasis 
upon religious privileges and duties and suggest 
profitable occupation exercises which will insure 
a daily reinforcement of the lesson taught on the 
Sabbath. He may do his part by precept and 
example to inculcate habits of neatness, accuracy, 
punctuality, patience, and the host of other vir- 
tues that, like cleanliness, are not far removed 
from godliness. He may watch over the religious 
life and, as a wise specialist in the field of soul 
culture, anticipate and prepare the way for each 
successive stage of that life's unfolding. 



THE PUPIL: EARLY ADOLESCENCE 



Adolescence 
Defined 



General 
Character- 
istics 



The word "adolescence" is derived through 
the French from the Latin adolescentia, mean- 
ing "the state of growing up from childhood to 
manhood and womanhood." Hence in English, 
as in French and Latin, it means youth, that is, 
the age between childhood and maturity. As 
used by psychologists and educational writers, 
the term "adolescence" is applied to a more or 
less definitely restricted period, beginning with 
puberty, at about twelve years, to the completion 
of the change to adult life, at approximately 
twenty-five. In general it may be said that both 
puberty and full maturity are reached somewhat 
earlier by girls than by boys, and that the upper 
age limit especially varies greatly with individu- 
als of both sexes. 

The fundamental distinguishing characteristic 
of adolescence, and the one that lies back of all 
the momentous mental and moral changes and 
traits now discoverable, is the development of 
the parental or mating instinct. It is this instinct 
which impels the individual to concern and action 
for others rather than for self, and which thus 
gives rise to those new social interests and ac- 
tivities so characteristic of youth. "The silking 
of the growing corn," says Kirkpatrick, "is not 
more completely determined by the laws of or- 
ganic development than [are] the emotions of 
love [and altruism] in youth by the emergence 
36 



The Pupil: Early Adolescence 37 

of a new instinct from the depths of his un- 
conscious nature." ^ The individualism and self- 
ishness so conspicuously prominent in childhood 
are modified by the development of a stronger 
social consciousness, and transformed into a 
new social self-interest. The individual may be 
said to be both physiologically and psycholog- 
ically "newborn" — out of childhood into matur- 
ity, out of egoism and isolation into altruism 
and society. *'The old impulse to get all he can 
for self is partially replaced by the impulse to be 
all that he can be for himself and to do all that 
he can for the world." ^ Thus both self-con- 
sciousness and social consciousness become 
stronger. A growing sense of independence and 
increased self-expression are noticeable though 
these are accompanied by marked social sub- 
mission in personal comradeship and group 
activities. 

Accompanying these momentous changes there The Religious 
is a deepening of the emotions, intellectual ac- ^^f* 
tivity is quickened, and the moral and volitional 
life becomes more rational and independent. 
The religious life now also changes. In a favora- 
ble environment religion becomes a more per- 
sonal matter, but has at the same time a broader 
outlook. It is characterized by lofty aspirations 
which reach out toward the Infinite and the 
Absolute. The ideals of truth, of beauty, and 
of holiness have a new interest and fascination; 
conscience seeks out a new, independent, and 
absolute standard, and into the thought of God 
there is now poured "all the wealth of new 

1 Fundamentals of Child Study, p. 87. 



38 



The Graded Sunday School 



sentiments and ideals." ^ Rightly guided, the 
religious life, like the mental and physical, un-' 
folds rapidly and normally, until it attains the 
fullness and the depth of well-rounded and well- 
balanced maturity; until the emotions, the intel- 
lect, and the will respond in unison to the touch 
of God and spend themselves in noble service in 
his name. 
Sub-Periods In Order to discover the principles which 

should determine more specifically the content 
and the method of religious teaching during 
adolescence, it will be necessary to consider some- 
what more in detail those traits which distinguish 
the earlier from the later years of this longer 
period. Writers on this subject recognize three 
more or less clearly distinguished sub-periods or 
stages. These are: i. Early adolescence, from 
twelve or thirteen to fifteen or sixteen; 2. 
Middle adolescence, from fifteen or sixteen to 
eighteen or nineteen; 3. Late adolescence, from 
eighteen or nineteen to twenty-three or twenty- 
five. The lower numbers in each case represent 
the approximate limits of the sub-period for 
girls and the higher numbers those for boys. 



Girls: Ages 
Twelve to 
Fifteen 
Boys: Ages 
Thirteen to 
Sixteen 



EARLY ADOLESCENCE 

The physical changes which take place during 
early adolescence are important and far-reach- 
ing. Growth in height, weight, and strength is 
accelerated. The senses become more acute and 
discriminating. The exact proportions of the 
body are lost, to be regained later on a new scale. 
This produces awkwardness and sometimes lazi- 

* Coe, Education in Religion and Morals, p. 9. 



The Pupil : Early Adolescence 39 

ness. There is often a marked change in fea- 
tures, especially facial, as heredity begins strongly physical 
to assert itself. Physical energy and activity Traits 
or their opposites, sluggishness and indolence, 
are characteristics. Health in general is better. 

On the emotional side this is preeminently the Feelings and 
age of sentiment and of changing moods. The intellect 
emotions develop by contrasts and sudden 
changes to opposites. Self-feeling and self-as- 
sertiveness alternate with timidity and a distrust 
of one's powers and ability, love for solitude 
with desire for companionships, and periods of 
absorption and meditation with seasons of pas- 
sionate devotion to the seeing and hearing of new 
things. Study and active physical occupation 
charm in succession. Wisdom and folly, courage 
and cowardice, industry and indolence appear in 
strange juxtaposition. The dawn of adoles- 
cence marks the first sentimental response to 
nature, and is par excellence the age of poetry, 
myth, and hero-worship. There is a keen ap- 
preciation of action, strength, and manly courage. 
Newly awakened social instincts prompt to at- 
tempts, more or less awkward at first, at 
social adjustment, while for the first time the 
consciousness of sex causes both boys and 
girls to feel timid and ill at ease in each 
other's presence, suggesting at times a feeling 
of strong aversion for the opposite sex. The 
social impulse, therefore, finds a natural outlet 
in gangs and cliques. Indefinite and dreamy 
longings for that which lies just "over and be- 
yond" the present are evident alike in a craving 
for variety and excitement, in an impulse to 



40 



The Graded Sunday School 



Develop 
Capacities 



leave home (the migrating instinct), and, where 
opportunity and training are favorable, in an 
interest in history which provides in representa- 
tive form the new environment and experience 
with groups of people which the individual 
craves. 

The educational ideal of this period as pointed 
out by President G. Stanley Hall in his monu- 
mental work on Adolescence is "to develop ca- 
pacities in as many directions as possible." ^ 
"Intellectual interests, athleticism, social and 
aesthetic tastes should be cultivated. Previous 
routine and drill work must be broken through 
and new occupations resorted to, that the mind 
may not be left idle while the hands are me- 
chanically employed." 2 Nature studies, litera- 
ture, art, and history will be among the favorite 
pursuits. The personality of the teacher will 
have a new attraction, and the influence of his 
precept and example be among the most im- 
portant factors in the molding of character. 

For the moral and religious life also early 
Juvenile Crime adolcsccncc is a period of rapid and important 
development. Social self-consciousness brings 
with it a new sense of self-sufficiency and inde- 
pendence. This is the period during which 
juvenile crime as well as virtue flourishes. The 
average age of juvenile offenders in American 
reformatories is a little over fourteen years. 
Statistics are available which point to a decided 
drop in behavior at school between the ages of 
twelve and seventeen, with the lowest point at 



Morals: 



1 Adolescence, vol. ii, p. 89. 

2 Hall, Pedagogical Seminary, vol. i, p. 207. 



The Pupil: Early Adolescence 4I 

about fourteen. This is the age when dime novels 
and **bIood and thunder" detective stories do 
their mischief ; when the gang impulse, especially 
in boys and in the city, too often finds a wrong 
and harmful outlet. Habits of personal im- 
purity, due sometimes to evil associations, some- 
times to an overdevelopment of the sex instinct, 
now often fasten upon the life and undermine 
the future. 

But youth at this time is susceptible also to Religion 
the higher and better influences. Religion is its 
natural element. The critical and somewhat 
skeptical spirit which boys and girls in their 
early teens sometimes manifest is accounted for 
by the abrupt breaking away from childish no- 
tions of religion. And over against this appar- 
ent skepticism there is always present (because 
instinctive to youth) an intense hunger for vital 
knowledge and a desire for sober counsel and 
sound advice. 

This is the age of symbolism and ceremony, confirmation 
as has been clearly recognized by the Christian 
Church in the solemn service of confirmation, 
which usually comes at about the age of four- 
teen. And great is the pity that this service, to 
which Catholic, Episcopalian, Lutheran, and Re- 
formed Churches alike give so much prominence, 
is so lightly esteemed, and its educational sig- 
nificance and possibilities so inadequately appre- 
ciated, by those other more recently organized 
branches of the Christian Church which in their 
origin represented perhaps a reaction against 
extreme formalism in religion. In the modern 
Jewish Church confirmation constitutes "a kind 



42 The Graded Sunday School 

of official conclusion of the training of the Sab- 
bath school, the first public religious act of the 
child, inducting him to full and complete mem- 
bership in the synagogue." ^ The significance 
of the confirmation service is that it celebrates 
with proper rites and public ceremony the at- 
tainment of religious majority, when the youth 
becomes a member of the religious community, 
with a new personal responsibility for his par- 
ticipation in its life and privileges. 
A Religious In their observance of the rite of confirmation 

Crisis the Jewish and Christian religions alike have 

recognized the critical nature of the early ado- 
lescent period for the religious life of the indi- 
vidual, and invoked the aid of the higher spiritual 
motives "before intelligence and self-control are 
able to cope with the strong new instincts that 
now spring into life." ^ Such statistical studies 
as have been made in this field seem to point to 
sixteen, seventeen, and eighteen as the ages of 
most frequent conversion, though under favora- 
ble conditions there is almost certain to be a 
definite spiritual awakening, accompanied oft- 
times by a more or less definite religious decision, 
several years earlier, coincident with the awak- 
ening of a larger self-consciousness. It is now 
that the youth takes the helm of his own being 
and begins to put away childish things. The 
danger to the religious life at this point is that 
the transition from the narrower to the broader 
notions of religion, from the objective and im- 
personal to the subjective and personal experi- 
ence, may not be made with safety; that the 

1 Hall, Adolescence.'.vol. ii, p. 263. 



The Pupil : Early Adolescence 43 

new impulses and mental powers may find em- 
ployment in undesirable channels ; that the phys- 
ical and psychic regeneration may overshadow 
and dwarf the spiritual and fail to find its higher 
counterpart. It is a time of real crisis and de- 
mands the highest skill and most sympathetic 
solicitude of the religious teacher. 

The Sunday-school teacher who deals with Points of 
adolescent pupils must seek for points of contact ^°°*^*^* 
among the natural tendencies and characteristics 
of the individual at this period. These will de- 
termine not only the specific aim or aims which 
religious instruction should now have, but also 
the subject-matter and proper method of ap- 
proach. Three outstanding traits suggest them- 
selves as of especial importance. These are: 
I. A tendency toward the choice and imitation 
of ideals; 2. The gang impulse; 3. The desire 
for personal friendships. 

A very definite aim of religious instruction Forming 
during this period, and one that lends itself ^^11°^^^ 
easily to Sunday-school teaching, is the forma- 
tion of personal ideals. A point of contact for 
the teacher and a valuable suggestion for the 
makers of courses of religious instruction is 
furnished by the tendency toward hero-worship 
and idealistic imitation now so conspicuous. 
Ideals of action, strength, and courage have an 
unusual fascination for this age, and presented 
in the form of biographical studies from Bible 
and missionary history they offer an exceptional 
opportunity for showing clearly what it means to 
be truly strong and truly courageous. Moral 
courage is more genuinely heroic than mere 



44 



The Graded Sunday School 



The Gang 
Impulse 



Personal 
Friendships 



physical daring, and its appeal to youth is not 
less strong. If the teacher presents to his pupils 
"in concrete form the essentials of an ideal hu- 
man character, this will tend to win him to a 
natural expression of allegiance to Him who 
combines all these elements in his person — the 
typical man, Jesus." ^ A presentation of the 
ideal of Christian character expressed in the 
life of Jesus of Nazareth, who "came not to be 
ministered unto, but to minister," should be the 
culminating point of Sunday-school teaching at 
this period. 

The "gang" impulse is instinctive and sug- 
gests a natural method of approach to the re- 
ligious life of the adolescent pupil, especially the 
boy. It may be given a useful as well as an evil 
trend. In the various special forms of boys' 
and girls' societies, clubs, brigades, knights' and 
queens' organizations this has been successfully 
attempted. At their best these organizations 
constitute a valuable supplemental means of re- 
ligious education. They should be organically 
connected with the Sunday school and under its 
supervision, the Sunday-school class and depart- 
ment being utilized as their natural nucleus and 
center. 

An exceptional opportunity for augmenting 
the influence of formal instruction is afforded 
the Sunday-school teacher in the natural desire 
of boys and girls at this age for personal friend- 
ships. "There is absolutely no substitute," says 
Professor Coe, "for the giving of one's self in 
a personal friendship to unformed youths. . . . 

1 Pease, An Outline of a Bible School Curriculum, p. 229. 



The Pupil: Elarly Adolescence 45 

A teacher who establishes such relations with his 
pupils that they freely express themselves to him 
multiplies his moral and reHgious influence over 
them many fold." ^ 

No educational discussion of early adolescence seif- 
would be complete without a word and perhaps Knowledge 
a suggestion with regard to sex-instruction. The 
proper place for such instruction is doubtless 
the home. But parents, even the best of them, 
all too frequently fail to discharge their obliga- 
tion especially to their boys just here, and the 
Sunday-school teacher of adolescent boys who 
really gives himself in personal friendship to the 
individual members of his class is almost certain 
to be appealed to from time to time by some boy 
in trouble and in mental distress chiefly for lack 
of that self-knowledge which his normal develop- 
ment at this period demands. The teacher should 
at least inform himself and be prepared to give 
wise counsel where such is sought or needed. 
Such instruction by whomsoever given should 
be chiefly personal. "It should be concise and 
plain, yet with all needed tact and delicacy in 
well-chosen words." ^ It should be very brief 
and given in a manner which will protect both 
the sacredness of the topic and the self-respect 
of the pupil. President Hall in his discussion of 
adolescence attaches perhaps undue importance 
to this subject in its relation to education and 
religion. Nevertheless, the closing sentences of 
his chapter on sexual development seem to the 
writer to contain words of timely wisdom and 

* Education in Religion and Morals, p. 2s6f. 

* Hall, Adolescence, vol. i, p. 469. 



46 The Graded Sunday School 

suggestion. He says: "This probably ought to 
be the most inspiring of all topics to teach, as 
to the truly pure in heart it is the most beautiful 
of all. In the twilight, before the open fire, in 
the morning, in some hour of farewell, on a 
birthday, or any opportune time, this most sacred 
topic could be rescued from evil and be given 
abiding good associations. The self-knowledge 
imparted that makes for health is perhaps almost 
the culminating function and duty of parent- 
hood. It may be that in the future . . . experts 
will tell us with more confidence how to do our 
duty to the manifold exigencies, types, and 
stages of youth, and instead of feeling baffled 
and defeated we shall see that this age and theme 
is the supreme opening for the highest pedagogy 
to do its best and most transforming work, as 
well as being the greatest of all opportunities 
for the teacher of religion." ^ 



* Adolescence, vol. i, p. 46gi. 



VI 

THE PUPIL: MIDDLE AND LATER 
ADOLESCENCE 

MIDDLE ADOLESCENCE 

Middle adolescence is preeminently the age of Females: Ages 
sentiment and romance. The sexes now mutu- j^!*^^*'" '° 
ally attract. There is an increased emotional Males: Ages 
capacity ; appetites and bodily impulses are strong sixteen to 
though under better control. A growing social ^^^'^^^^ty 
sense may be accompanied by a rapid develop- 
ment of unselfishness. Enthusiasm and lofty 
aspirations are characteristic, and the "gang'* 
now gives way to the club with a more serious 
purpose, and to various forms of broader co- 
operative activity. At the same time sentiment sentiment and 
now often takes the form of self-feeling and a ^°"^*°*=® 
certain love of solitude. The aesthetic sense is 
noticeably quickened, with a resulting increase 
of interest in art and literature on its form or 
beauty side. 

Reason now becomes subjective and analytic Mental 
and rapidly develops all the mental powers, prac- ^°^*^® 
tically reaching maturity before the end of the 
period. The imitative tendency is perceptibly 
weakened as philosophic interest and interest 
in the practical problems of life deepen. Toward 
the end of the period intellectual doubt is likely 
to appear, growing stronger during the period 
which follows. College or business, sweetheart, 
romantic literature, history, art, science, and re- 
47 



48 



The Graded Sunday School 



Arbitrary 

Moral 

Standards 



Respect 
Individuality 



Personal 
Religious 
Experience 



ligion are outstanding interests, about which the 
Hfe activity of the individual gathers. 

On the side of morals middle adolescence is 
characterized by a lessened susceptibility to direct 
influence by suggestion and a greater independ- 
ence of opinion and belief. In a favorable en- 
vironment respect for law increases; right is 
respected for right's sake and its mandates lived 
up to with scrupulous conscientiousness. Where, 
however, the surrounding influences tend in the 
opposite direction, the opposite extreme of dis- 
regard for law and order is quite as evident. 

''Individuality," says Professor Pease, "is now 
so strongly marked that . . . appeal must be 
made (in teaching) to individual interests; in- 
dividual difficulties and doubts must be met and 
overcome, and in every way the individuality 
of the members of the class must be recognized 
and methods adopted that will not antagonize 
a free and independent expression of self." ^ 
In other words, the personality of the pupil must 
be respected and developed. He must be en- 
listed in genuine social service, that the emotional 
response now so easily secured by direct appeal 
may not spend itself in superficial ways, and 
that the generous spirit of altruism and the 
boundless enthusiasm of youth may find ample 
opportunity for expression in forms of practical 
usefulness. 

In the light of the principles set forth in the 
preceding discussion personal religious experi- 
ence has a new significance. If religion is the 
total response of a man's nature to God, and the 

1 An Outline of a Bible-school Curriculum, p. 307. 



The Pupil : Middle and Later Adolescence 49 

religious life, like the physical and mental, is 
subject to laws of gradual unfolding and de- 
velopment, then normal religious growth must 
naturally and of itself lead to maturity. But 
maturity in the religious life implies the recog- 
nition and the voluntary assumption of religious 
obligations and ideals. The individual must as- 
sume full responsibility for the status and trend 
of his religious life, with which his self, his 
social and religious consciousness, bring him 
face to face. He must now choose for himself 
whether he will henceforth in the strength of his 
manhood love and serve God and his fellow 
men, or whether he will repudiate the religious 
teaching of his childhood and lapse again into 
a life of narrow selfishness. 

Sometimes this larger religious self-conscious- Types of 
ness, this new sense of personal responsibility, Conversion 
comes suddenly and with a perceptible shock. 
In such cases the experience of making one's own 
by deliberate choice the rich religious heritage 
of earlier training also stands out clearly in con- 
sciousness. Frequently, however, there seems to 
be no sudden change, no such distinct or isolated 
experience of choosing once and for all. Some- 
times there is a struggle more or less prolonged 
resulting from a conscious lack of harmony be- 
tween what one is and what one clearly ought 
to be. But at times this too is wholly absent. 
Both types of religious life are normal; both 
types involve conversion in the sense of the 
conscious attainment of religious freedom and 
independence, with an accompanying fuller sur- 
render of self in the voluntary assumption of 



50 The Graded Sunday School 

religious and social obligations. Neither type 
involves conversion in the sense of a sudden 
change of character from extreme wickedness 
to goodness; from a life of sinfulness to one of 
righteousness. Conversion in this sense can have 
no place in the religious life that has developed 
normally, that is, naturally and as it should, from 
childhood. 
Period of It is to bc cxpcctcd that there should be some 

Most Frequent timc-relatiou between the attainment of mental 
and religious maturity. Certain it is that the 
latter cannot precede the former. For the phys- 
ical and mental life the period of middle adoles- 
cence furnishes the turning point between child- 
hood and manhood and womanhood. From this 
point onward there is a rapid maturing of all the 
powers of body and mind, and it is not other- 
wise in the life of the soul. Here, too, the period 
from sixteen to eighteen approximately brings 
a transition from childhood religion to the re- 
ligion of maturer years. It is natural, therefore, 
that this should be the period of most frequent 
conversion, and as such its importance for the 
religious life and for religious instruction is 
crucial. 
A Crucial Middle adolescence thus presents a real crisis 

Period jj^ ^j^^ rcHgious life, and one through which, con- 

sciously or unconsciously, every youth, at least 
every youth brought up in a favorable religious 
environment, must pass. And the thing that 
makes this crisis the more serious is the fact 
that a negative as well as an affirmative response 
to the challenge of the crisis, with its summons 
to the higher religious life, is possible. It is the 



The Pupil : Middle and Later Adolescence 5 ^ 

task of religious instruction at this point in the 
life development of the individual to make the 
affirmative response to that challenge easy and 
the negative response difficult; to anticipate the 
crisis in the individual pupil and to prepare 
wisely for it. This preparation falls largely 
within the preceding period of early adolescence, 
and what was said above with regard to points 
of contact during this period appHes here also. 
Additional leverage for religious culture during 
middle adolescence is found in the larger part 
played by sentiment, especially social sentiment. 
This should be wisely utilized in the cultivation 
of the finer altruistic feelings, and in directing 
these into channels of mutual social service. A 
valuable asset is to be found in young people's 
societies and in organized Sunday-school classes. 
These tend to tie the individual to the church, 
and offer a splendid means of introducing him 
to simple forms of practical service for the church 
and the community. 

LATER ADOLESCENCE 

The third and last sub-period of adolescence, pemaies: Ages 
extending approximately from eighteen to Eighteen to 
twenty-five, might well be called the period of M^eTrlge? 
early maturity. Physical growth is now com- Nineteen to 
plete; the powers of intellect, emotions, and will Twenty-five 
are in their prime. Abounding health, great 
physical endurance, and fixed appetites char- 
acterize life on its physical side. On the intel- 
lectual side reflective and practical reason are 
in full control. This brings a general mental 
clarification, involving intellectual struggle, ques- 



52 



The Graded Sunday School 



Life 

Philosopt^ 



Emotional 
Character- 
istics 



Intellectual 
Doubt 



tioning, and doubt, and leading naturally to a re- 
construction of one's entire thought system and 
the working out of some sort of life philosophy 
or world view. The assumption of full social 
and civic responsibilities makes necessary the 
choice of a vocation and fixes the centers of in- 
terest in the home, in business, and in politics. 

On the emotional side the social and homing 
instincts dominate. True and constant affection, 
deep, abiding sympathy and love, together with 
worthy and long-sustained enthusiasm, are char- 
acteristic, and make possible effective social and 
civic service. 

The points of contact for religious instruction 
in the light of these character traits are obvious. 
One of these is the tendency toward intellectual 
doubt, which often manifests itself first in mat- 
ters of religious faith. Doubts sometimes appear 
earlier, but not in the same formidable way as 
now. Perhaps not all young people experience 
difficulty in matters of faith, but among those 
who do one is almost sure to find many of the 
strongest and best minds of any given group. 
The Sunday school should offer young men and 
young women an opportunity for the serious 
study of the Christian religion in its various 
aspects under conditions which will permit the 
frank statement and free discussion of individual 
difficulties and doubts. Thus there may be laid a 
reasonable foundation for the faith which has 
been held during earlier years.^ 

1 In answer to the question, "What then can be done for the 
doubting youth?" Professor Coe says in part: "We can correct 
the plain misapprehensions under which he is laboring as to what 
Christians actually believe; we can replace foolish questions with 



The Pupil : Middle and Later Adolescence 53 

Broader and more critical studies of life and 
its problems may be entered upon through an 
historical study of the Old and New Testaments, 
through the study of Christian missions, Chris- 
tian ethics, Christian doctrine, and current 
problems of civic, social, and church life. Out 
of these studies there should develop an added 
interest in all forms of practical service. And 
this interest should be given opportunity to ex- 
press itself in action. Herein lies the great op- 
portunity of the religious teacher during this 
period, which is preeminently the age of self- 
expression in useful activity. Lastly, the young 
man and the young woman should gain from the 
broader study and religious training of this 

wiser ones; we can guide his reading in the treasuries of the world's 
thought; we can frankly admit our inability to answer all his ques- 
tions, and we can tell him that we ourselves have passed through 
similar difficvdties. And we can add to this intellectual food some- 
thing not less needful; for the trouble of his -mind is not simply that 
he does not know this or that, but rather that he fancies that his 
uncertainty involves some' disloyalty or other fault of heart or 
wiU. He must therefore learn, in a practical way, that knowing 
Christian doctrine is not the same as being grounded in the Christian 
life. He should by all means be induced to be active in those forms 
of religious living that still appeal to him at all. Religious activity 
and religious comforts may abide at the same time that the intellect 
is uncertain how all this fits into any logical structure. Thus it 
comes to pass that the greatest thing we can do for the doubting 
youth is to induce him to give free exercise to the religious instinct 
Let him not say what he does not actually believe; let him not 
compromise himself in any way; for it is always certain that he still 
believes, feels, and aspires enough to give him a place among religious 
people." — Coe, The Spiritual Life, pp. 64f. 

"The reasons why religious doubt is so hard and sometimes 
tragic are manifold. The bad pedagogy that insists on the literal 
historic truth of all Scripture, itself due to the low vitaUty of reli- 
gious life ; the way in which virtue is thought to depend on belief, 
which makes reconstruction morally dangerous; and the virus of 
orthodox theology which makes no provision for growth — all this 
is calamitous for youth. . . . Where the clay of dogma is tramped 
down too hard about the roots of the growing soul either the latter 
is arrested or else doctrines are ruptured. Of all the outrages 
and mutilations practiced upon youth by well-meaning adults, 
insistence upon such dogmas, upon pain of moral offense, is perhaps 
the very most disastrous and anti-religious in its results, for it 
enlists the conscience of the individual, at the age when it is most 
vigorous and tender, against his own normal mental development." 
— -Hall, Adolescence, vol. ii, p. 317. 



Broader 

Studies 



Social and 
Civic Service 



Kingdom 



54 The Graded Sunday School 

Seeking period a consistent and workable view of life as 

^*/"s*J=^^ a whole, and one which is essentially and vitally 

Christian, and which gives large place to the con- 
ception of the kingdom of heaven as a dynamic 
force, making for righteousness among men — 
a philosophy of life which prompts to a continual 
and energetic participation in every form of 
systematic effort which the Church is putting 
forth for the furtherance of the interests of that 
kingdom among men. Thus may be established 
the life habit of seeking first the kingdom of 
heaven. 



VII 



THE SCHOOL: SCHEME OP ORGANIZATION 
AND GRADING 

The course of study of the Sunday school, as 
the preceding discussion shows, must provide 
in a systematic way for meeting the spiritual 
needs of the pupil at each successive stage of 
his life's unfolding, from early childhood to full 
maturity. But these needs again will at every 
stage of growth be at least threefold in char- 
acter, relating at one and the same time to the 
intellectual, the emotional, and the volitional 
nature of the pupil. This imposes upon the 
system of Sunday-school instruction two essen- 
tial requirements: (i) The school must be 
graded; (2) The course of study must supply in 
well-balanced proportion proper stimulus and 
guidance for intellect, emotions, and will. It 
will be necessary to consider these requirements 
in order, devoting to each a separate chapter. 

By a graded course of study for the Sunday 
school we mean one in which there is a regular 
gradation of studies and work from the Kinder- 
garten or Beginners Department, with its simple 
exercises and stories, up through the Primary, 
Junior, Intermediate, and Senior Departments 
to the classes for adults, where mature men and 
women study together questions relating to the 
total message of separate books of the Bible, and 
discuss freely the weightier problems of the re- 
ligious life. 

55 



Two Essential 
Requirements 



What Grading 
Means 



56 



The Graded Sunday School 



Graded 
Lessons 



Measurable 
Progress 



In a graded school no two departments or 
classes will on any given Sunday be studying 
the same lesson. Even at the Christmas and 
Easter seasons there will be a marked difference 
between the several grades in the method of 
treating the same special theme. In a graded 
school boys and girls fifteen and sixteen years 
old will not be taught in the same classes with 
men and women past thirty; children of six and 
seven will not be given the prologue to the fourth 
Gospel, the Prophecies of Jeremiah, or Paul's 
discourse on Mars' Hill; nor will the Senior 
pupils be forced to content themselves year after 
year with frequent adaptations of disconnected 
story lessons suited only to the elementary 
grades. 

In a graded course of Sunday-school instruc- 
tion the work of each year will constitute a unit, 
which, while in a measure complete in itself, will 
nevertheless be definitely related to the work 
which immediately precedes and that which im- 
mediately follows. The completion of a year's 
work in such a course will mark a definite and 
measurable step forward, and lead in turn to 
other work that is new and more advanced. 
Under a graded system of instruction the pupil 
will be conscious of progress year by year, while 
the teacher of each grade will know from the 
outline of the work for preceding years how 
much of Bible history and other religious knowl- 
edge may be counted on as being in the possession 
of his pupils when they enter upon the year's 
work in the new grade. 

A graded curriculum implies annual promo- 



Organization and Grading 



57 



tions and a change of teachers as the pupil 
passes from one grade to the next. It impHes 
also specialization and consequently greater 
efficiency on the part of the teacher, who is not 
called upon to teach a new series of lessons each 
year, being permitted to repeat the work of his 
particular grade with a new group of pupils each 
year, or at most every three or four years. This 
makes possible a more thorough mastery of the 
subjects or lessons which the individual teacher 
is required to teach. It leaves some time for a 
wider range of reading and study, and insures 
to the teacher self-confidence, poise, a conscious- 
ness of power, and an abounding joy in service 
which a thorough mastery of one's work alone 
can bring. 

In every graded curriculum there are two 
things to be considered: (i) The scheme of 
organization or grading; (2) The subject-matter 
to be taught, or the content of instruction. The 
former is the skeleton framework, giving form 
and stability to the whole; the latter is the flesh 
and blood that clothes with grace and gives sub- 
stance to the form and framework. Both are 
important, as each is essential to the other. 

A thoroughly organized and graded Sunday 
school should have at least three larger or gen- 
eral divisions, with one or more departments in 
each division. The first of these larger di- 
visions will in every case include the elementary 
grades, comprising the Beginners, Primary, and 
Junior Departments, with a Cradle Roll attached 
to the Beginners Department. These three de- 
partments will enroll all pupils up to and includ- 



Annual 
Promotions 



Better 
Teaching 



Essentials of 
Form and 
Content 



Scheme of 
Organization 



General 
Divisions 



58 The Graded Sunday School 

ing those of twelve years of age. A convenient 
second division is that which in ordinary Sunday- 
school phraseology constitutes the "Main school," 
and which includes the Intermediate and Senior 
Departments, together with the Normal or 
Teacher-training class or classes, where such 
exist. The pupils in this division will range in 
age from thirteen to twenty years, inclusive. In 
addition to the Elementary and Secondary Di- 
visions, as they may be most properly designated, 
there should be a third or Advanced Division for 
adults. This will include both the graduate 
classes pursuing strictly advanced work, and also 
the organized adult classes which have for their 
special purpose the prosecution of aggressive 
evangelism among the adult constituency of the 
community, rather than the more academic work 
implied in strictly advanced courses of biblical 
literature, church history, doctrines, or ethics, 
etc., that would naturally interest smaller groups 
of adults who have passed up through all the 
grades of the preceding departments of the 
school. To summarize in schedule form, the 
general scheme of organization will be as 
follows : 

Elementary Division (ages, i to 12): 

(Cradle Roll.) 

Beginners Department. 

Primary Department. 

Junior Department. 
Secondary Division (ages, 13-20) : 

Intermediate Department. 

Senior Department. 

Teacher-Training (Normal) Department. 
Advanced Division (adults) : 

Graduate Courses. 

Organized Adult Classes. 



Organization and Grading 59 

This scheme of organization presupposes separate 
separate meeting places for each of the three ^«®*^°e 
divisions. A properly housed and equipped 
school will provide separate rooms, not only for 
each division, but for each department, and, 
where the number of pupils in each department 
warrants, for each grade within the department 
as well. This will become more evident as we 
consider the above scheme of organization more 
in detail. 

ELEMENTARY DIVISION 

In the general educational discussions of the Elementary 
present the term "elementary education" is used E"^"<=ation 
to designate the training offered by all grades 
below the High school, and including depart- 
ments commonly known as Kindergarten, 
Primary, and Grammar school. The numbering 
of the grades begins with the first year of the 
Primary, the Kindergarten being regarded as a 
sub-primary department for children under six 
years of age. In some sections of the country, 
especially those where no public kindergartens 
exist, children are admitted into the first grade 
of the Primary before they are six years old; 
but the constant improvement of the public- 
school system and the more general introduction 
of kindergartens, especially in cities, is rapidly 
raising the minimum age of admission to the first 
grade to six years. 

The number of grades or years covered by Pubuc-schooi 
elementary education, that is, the number of usage 
grades in Primary and Grammar schools taken 
together, varies from seven to eight in different 



6o 



The Graded Sunday School 



Sunday- 
School 
Parallel 



Beginners, 
Primary, 
and Junior 
Departments 



parts of the country and in different schools, as, 
for example, between public and private schools 
in the same city. Usually the ninth school year 
above the Kindergarten is the first year of High 
school. Some schools, however, and among 
them some of the very best, restrict elementary 
education to a total of seven years above the 
Kindergarten, beginning the High-school course 
with the eighth school year. Of these seven 
(or eight) years, three fall within the Primary 
school age (six to eight), and four (or five) 
within that of the Grammar school (nine or 
eight to twelve). 

Substituting the term Beginners for Kinder- 
garten, and the term Junior Department for 
Grammar school, we have in our scheme of 
organization for the graded Sunday school, given 
above, an Elementary Division corresponding 
to the best usage in grading in the public schools. 
The Cradle Roll (also called the Font Roll) 
added by the Sunday school is a supplemental 
division of the Beginners Department, intended 
to constitute an added tie or bond of sympathy 
between the school and the home, and to insure 
the prompt enrollment of the little child in the 
Sunday school. 

The organization of three departments within 
the Elementary Division requires, in schools hav- 
ing a large total enrollment, a separate teacher 
for each grade group, making two teachers for 
the Beginners, three for the Primary, four for 
the Junior, or nine teachers in all. There will 
also be needed a superintendent for each of the 
three departments, who, however, may be at the 



Organization and Grading 



61 



same time a teacher of one of the grade groups. 
The department superintendent will in each case 
have general charge of the department. In very- 
small schools not all grades are likely to be 
represented in sufficient numbers to require a 
teacher for each grade, and in the smallest 
schools, or where qualified teachers are not 
available, a single teacher may sometimes be in 
charge of all the grades of the department. The 
grading of the pupils in the elementary grades 
will necessarily be largely on the basis of age 
and grade in public-school work. 

Revising our tabular scheme to include the 
suggestions given in the preceding paragraphs, 
we have: 

ELEMENTARY DIVISION 

Corresponding to Kindergarten, Primary, and 
Grammar Grades of the Public-School 
System 
Departments : 

(Cradle Roll; ages, up to 3.) 

Beginners, two years; ages, 4 and 5. 

Primary, three years; ages, 6-8. 

Junior, four years; ages, 9-12. 
Nine years. Seven grades above the Beginners. 
Three to nine or more teachers. Three departments. 
Three or more rooms. 

SECONDARY DIVISION 

The Secondary Division of the Sunday school, secondary 
like the Elementary, takes its name from public- Education 
school phraseology, in which the term "secondary 
education" is applied to the training offered by 
schools above the elementary grades, including 
high schools, college preparatory schools, normal 
schools, and academies. The term thus covers an 
intermediate period between grammar school and 



Elementary 
Division 
Tabular 
Scheme 



62 



The Graded Sunday School 



Intermediate, 
Senior, and 
Teacher- 
Training 
Departments 



Prerequisites 



collegiate training, or between elementary and 
strictly advanced study. 

In our scheme for the Sunday school this di- 
vision will include three departments, namely: 
I. The Intermediate; ages, 13-16; comprising 
four years. 2. The Senior (completing the Sun- 
day-school course proper, exclusive of advanced 
or graduate work) ; ages, 17-20; comprising four 
years. 3. Teacher-Training (Normal) ; ages, 
17 and over; parallel with the Senior and leading 
to work of Sunday-school teaching. This last 
department will offer two or more courses of 
study covering from two to four years, with 
special training for elementary teachers. There 
should be no upper age limit for the Teacher- 
Training Department. 

The Secondary Division differs from the Ele- 
mentary in several particulars. The grading of 
the pupils is no longer on the basis of age and 
place in the public-school course, but on the basis 
of previous work done in the Sunday school 
itself. The placing of a pupil in the first year of 
the Intermediate Department presupposes that 
he has had the religious training in the Junior 
Department, or its equivalent. In the same way 
the enrolling of a pupil in the second, third, or 
fourth year of the Intermediate, either by pro- 
motion or on first enrollment, presupposes his 
having completed satisfactorily the work of the 
year preceding. Delinquent pupils of mature 
years should be cared for in special classes. In 
the Senior Department it is still more important 
that the enrollment in the department represent 
actual grading of the pupils on the basis of merit. 



Scheme 



Organization and Grading 63 

So long as this is impossible the Sunday school 
will not be graded in any strict sense in its 
Secondary or Main-school Division. 

As a matter of fact, it takes about as many Tabular 
years to thoroughly grade a division of the Sun- 
day school as there are grades or years in the 
courses of study for that division. It is impossi- 
ble, in other words, except where courses for 
two succeeding years may alternate, to have 
pupils doing the work of any given year of the 
Intermediate or Senior Department until they 
have actually done the work of the years which 
precede, that is, have passed up through the pre- 
ceding grades of the department. There are still 
many obstacles in the way of a better grading 
of our Sunday schools, but not so many as there 
were a few years ago, and progress is making in 
this field at an accelerated rate. Things which a 
short time ago seemed impossible of achievement 
are now entirely feasible. 

To recapitulate in tabular form, as in the 
preceding division, we have: 

SECONDARY DIVISION 

Corresponding to High School, Normal School, 
College Preparatory School, and 
Academy 
Departments : 

Intermediate, four years; ages, 13-16. 
Senior, four years; ages, 17-20, 
Teacher-Training (Normal), two to four years; 
ages, 1 7 and over. 
Eight years. Ages, 13-20. When all years of 
Intermediate, Senior, and Teacher-Training Depart- 
ments are represented in the enrollment there will be 
ten or more teachers. Three or more rooms. 

Prerequisites for each department : The work of the 
preceding department or its equivalent; for each year: 
The work of the preceding year or its equivalent. 



64 



The Graded Sunday School 



Optional 

Advanced 

Courses 



Practical Bible 
Study 



ADVANCED OR ADULT DIVISION 

The third or Advanced Division of the Sunday 
school comprises the adult constituency among 
the pupils and students. Regarded in its rela- 
tion to the two preceding divisions, Elementary 
and Secondary, the Advanced Division repre- 
sents a strictly higher type of work and study. 
It must provide for those who have come up 
through the grades, and who have completed the 
requirements of the Intermediate and Senior 
Departments, a profitable selection of optional 
courses of a sufficiently advanced character to 
attract and interest those who are of a studious 
turn of mind, and whose equipment and previous 
training have fitted them for that kind of inde- 
pendent investigation which is characteristic of 
college and university study. 

But not all, perhaps not many, of the adults 
enrolled in the Sunday school will be interested 
in or prepared for advanced studies of this type. 
There is another and equally important function 
which the Advanced Division of the school must 
perform. It has an obligation to the larger so- 
called "unchurched" constituency of the com- 
munity. The Sunday school in placing emphasis 
on the educational side of its work must not 
forsake the work of aggressive evangelism, or 
the work of providing suitable training and Bible 
instruction for those whom the aggressive evan- 
gelism of the Church has won to the religious 
life. And the courses of Bible study which will 
appeal to and help such people must be practical 
rather than of an academic character. 



Organization and Grading 65 

At this point the organized adult Bible class, organized 
with its emphasis upon social life and service and Bible classes 
upon popular Bible study, fits into our scheme 
of organization, which in the Advanced Division 
thus provides for two departments to meet the 
two distinct needs to which we have referred. 
The organized adult class, with its systematic 
division of labor through the agency of com- 
mittees; with its good fellowship and its week- 
day activities to supplement the class study of the 
Bible on Sunday, admirably meets the need of 
aggressive and effective evangelism among the 
adult constituency of the community. 

The two departments of the Advanced or two 
Adult Division of the school will therefore be: Departments 
I. The Graduate Department, and, 2. The Or- 
ganized Adult Class Department, or Department 
of Aggressive Evangelism. The first will be sub- 
ject to restrictions requiring certain previous 
study and training of those who enroll for the 
courses of study which it offers. The second 
will impose no such restrictions, but with a dif- 
ferent aim and purpose will welcome all who 
come, going even into the byways and hedges 
and compelling them to come in. 

Summarizing once more in tabular form, we Tabular 

have ' Scheme 

ADVANCED DIVISION 

Adults : Ages, 2 1 and over 
Departments : 

Graduate. Offering strictly advanced elective 
courses in Bible study and kindred subjects. 
Prerequisites : The work of the Senior Depart- 
ment or its equivalent. 
Organized Adult Classes. 

Special aim : Aggressive evangelism. 
No prerequisites. 



66 The Graded Sunday School 

Other The fact that we have placed the organized 

Organized Bible class whcrc we have in our scheme does 

Classes 

not mean that classes below the Advanced Di- 
vision, or in the Graduate Department of that 
division, may not also with profit to themselves 
and to the school be organized. It simply means 
that there is a distinct and large field of useful- 
ness for such organized class work among adults. 



Recapitulation 



The Graded Sunday School — Scheme 
OF Organization 

ELEMENTARY DIVISION 

Ages, 4-12 

Corresponding to Kindergarten, Primary, and 
Grammar Grades of the Public-School 
System 
Departments : 

(Cradle Roll; ages, up to 3.) 

Beginners, two years; ages, 4 and 5. 

Primary, three years; ages, 6-8. 

Junior, four years; ages, 9-12. 
Nine years. Seven grades above the Beginners. 
Three to nine or more teachers. Three departments. 
Three or more rooms. 

SECONDARY DIVISION 

Ages, 13-20 

Corresponding to High School, Normal School, 
College Preparatory School, and 
Academy 
Departments : 

Intermediate, four years; ages, 13-16. 
Senior, four years; ages, 17-20. 
Teacher-Training (Normal), two to four years; 
ages, 17 and over. 
Eight years. When all years of Intermediate, Senior, 
and Teacher-Training Departments are represented in 
the enrollment there will be ten or more teachers. 
Three or more rooms. 

Prerequisites for each department: The work of the 
preceding department or its equivalent. For each year: 
The work of the preceding year or its equivalent. 



Organization and Grading 



67 



ADVANCED DIVISION 

Adults: Ages, 21 and over 
Departments: 

Graduate. Offering strictly advanced elective 
courses in Bible study and kindred subjects. 
Prerequisites: The work of the Senior Depart- 
ment or its equivalent. 
Organized Adult Classes. 

Special aim: Aggressive evangelism. 
No prerequisites. 

There will be a number of pupils of various 
ages in almost every school w^hose previous re- 
ligious training, or lack of training, or mental de- 
fects will make it next to impossible to find a 
place for them in the rigid scheme of grading 
here presented. To accommodate such pupils 
exceptions may sometimes be made in the age and 
grade requirements. These must always in a 
sense and to a certain degree remain flexible. A 
better way to meet the situation, however, would 
be to care for these pupils in special, ungraded 
classes, in which work suited to their special 
needs is provided. Where the number of such 
students warrants, a number of such classes may 
be formed into a Special Department or Division. 
The presence of such pupils, even in large num- 
bers, should not be permitted to interfere with 
or weaken the graded studies in the regular 
course when once the system of graded instruc- 
tion is in successful operation throughout one 
or all of the larger divisions of the school. 



Special 
Classes or 
Departments 



VIII 



Threefold 
Demand 



Wholesome 
Atmosphere 



THE CURRICULUM OR SUBJECT-MATTER OF 
INSTRUCTION 

Historically we find the religious impulse 
of man expressed on the feeling side in art and 
literature; on the side of intellect in creed and 
dogma; and on the side of action in deeds of 
heroic service, missionary endeavor, and mar- 
tyrdom. This indicates at once the wide scope 
that must be given to religious training, if this 
is to provide for the religious needs of the pupils 
in their entirety. It means that religious training 
must supply at one and the same time inspiration 
for the heart, information for the intellect, and 
discipline for the will. It means that the work 
of the religious teacher will be one of stimulation, 
of illumination, and of guidance, and that in the 
work of the pupil enthusiasm, study, and effort 
will be present in well-balanced proportion. It 
means that the beautiful, the true, and the good 
will each be accorded its rightful place and its 
proper consideration in the Sunday-school cur- 
riculum, and that right ideals, adequate knowl- 
edge, and right action will be the aim and end of 
Sunday-school instruction. 

THE PLACE OF THE BEAUTIFUL IN THE SUNDAY- 
SCHOOL CURRICULUM 

In the cultivation of the emotional or feeling 
side of the religious life in the Sunday school 
several factors not strictly a part of the course 
68 



Subject- Matter of Instruction 



69 



The 

Schoolroom 

Beautiful 



of study are of the utmost importance. These 
include the schoolroom itself, with its appoint- 
ments; the school session, with its program, 
music, worship forms, order ; the personal habits 
and manners of the officers and teachers. In the 
formation of their ideals of religion and the re- 
ligious life pupils will be influenced by these in 
a sense external factors more than by the formal 
instruction which they receive. Ideals cannot be 
taught by precepts; they must be set forth in 
concrete example. In their formation the total 
atmosphere of the school rather than its curric- 
ulum is the determining element. 

A roomy, cheerful schoolroom is the first es- 
sential. Light and ventilation are of primary 
importance. The cramped, dark, stuffy base- 
ment rooms in which many schools are still 
housed tend to stifle rather than to foster re- 
ligious aspirations. Like the interior of a 
mausoleum or prison dungeon, they remind one 
of light and life and freedom only by way of 
dismal contrast. Not so the "schoolroom beau- 
tiful.'* Its ceiling is high, its windows large, its 
floor space ample. Its furniture and equipment 
are adapted to the needs of the pupils. Well- 
chosen pictures, copies of the masterpieces in 
sacred art, adorn the walls. A motto here and 
there that tells of light and life eternal voices 
the sentiment which one instinctively feels in 
an environment such as the room and the hour 
afford. 

Next to the schoolroom the program for the The Program 
session of the school is important. It should be 
orderly and well arranged. It should have 



yo The Graded Sunday School 

balance, with not too much of song or prayer, 
or any other single feature. It should have 
movement without friction, snap without noise. 
It should have point and purpose, uplift and 
inspiration. The total effect of the program 
upon the pupil should lift the ideal of the religious 
life to a higher level by stimulating deeper re- 
ligious emotions, and at the same time leaving 
the satisfying impression of something appro- 
priate and beautiful in form and content. 

Music Much here depends upon the character of the 

music. The taste of the pupil should be culti- 
vated, not corrupted, as is the tendency of many 
of the popular Sunday-school songs at present 
in vogue in America. Hymns, chants and songs, 
orchestra, quartet and chorus, all have a place 
on Sunday-school programs — but only the best 
of its kind in every case. Nothing short of the 
best in music is good enough for the Sunday 
school. 

Worship Another essential is the cultivation of the 

reverential attitude in the sanctuary during 
prayer and toward all things pertaining to the 
worship of God and the personal religious life 
and experience. If religious training fails in 
this particular its influence at every other point 
is weakened. Here again example is better than 
precept. There should be some place in the 
Sunday-school program for meditation and for 
silent communion, with enough of the ritualistic 
element to make the service both dignified and 
sacred. Vitality and spirit should not be sac- 
rificed to form, nor vice versa. Both form and 
substance in divine worship are important. 



Subject- Matter of Instruction 7 1 

In the formation of right ideals of life and Hero- 
character hero-portraiture has a large place. It Portraiture 
belongs especially to the period of early adoles- 
cence, when the expanding social and self -con- 
sciousness makes its demand for concrete models 
and personal examples outside the narrow sphere 
of the pupil's immediate environment. All that 
is best and noblest in life and most worth while 
in personal achievement may be discovered in 
the study of examples, and no better way is 
opened to a teacher for setting forth clearly the 
difference between higher and lower forms of 
achievement, or for the cultivation of the altru- 
istic feeling in the possession of which all true 
heroism exists. 

Hero-portraiture, and following that, in the culture of 
years of middle adolescence more especially, the Emotions 
more analytic study of the character of patri- 
archs, prophets, apostles, missionary heroes and 
reformers, and of the Christ, rightly used, can- 
not fail to arouse and develop a higher apprecia- 
tion and admiration for the right, a devotion to 
the cause of its furtherance, and the establish- 
ment of the kingdom of God on earth. 

There is need, then, of the best and noblest in The Personal 
the personal environment of the pupil, in order ^^^^^ 
that the constant appeal to his eye and his ear 
shall make for a better and fuller appreciation 
of all that is perfect in form and loveliness. 
There is need that the eye and the ear of the 
soul be supplied with images of life and char- 
acter as noble, in order that these may furnish 
the background in consciousness for the image 
of the crystal life and character of Jesus, and a 



72 The Graded Sunday School 

setting for the personal ideal of perfect love and 



service 



Truth and 

Intellectual 

Activity 



Knowledge 
Essential to 
Virtue 



THE PLACE OF TRUTH IN THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL 
CURRICULUM 

The intellect, as well as the aesthetic sense and 
emotional response, has a part in the development 
of the religious life. Impulse without knowledge 
would be haphazard in its response to the varied 
stimuli of man's environment. Only in propor- 
tion as the intellectual element is present also 
can the emotional life rise to higher levels. The 
intellect, indeed, is the instrument by means of 
which both the emotions themselves and their 
significance are brought clearly to consciousness. 
It is the sole interpreter of religious life and 
experience. Religious instruction must therefore 
give large place to truth, and to the information 
element of the learning process. 

Knowledge is not virtue, nor is it in itself 
the guarantee of a virtuous life, as the Greeks 
once supposed. But knowledge is essential to 
virtue. It is necessary to know the will of God 
in order to do his will. And the will of God 
toward men in the complex relationships of 
twentieth-century civilization is no simpler than 
the social situation in which it is to be realized. 
To fully appropriate the rich spiritual and re- 
ligious heritage of the race it is necessary to 
know wherein that heritage consists; and to 
appreciate its value and preserve it intact for 
posterity it is necessary to understand in a meas- 
ure the process of its gradual accumulation dur- 
ing the long centuries. The highest type of ethical 



Subject-Matter of Instruction 



73 



and moral life implies an intellectual mastery of 
the problems which such a life presents. The 
best type of Christian, like the best type of 
patriot or citizen, is the intellectual type. Heart 
and hand cannot accomplish much that is worth 
while without the head. 

In a certain sense religious instruction is con- 
cerned with every department of human knowl- 
edge, since there is no field of research or study 
that does not have some bearing more or less 
direct upon religion. The curriculum of the 
Sunday school must therefore at least take cog- 
nizance of all truth, whether scientific or re- 
ligious, even though it include in its material of 
instruction only the latter. The religious train- 
ing that ignores truth revealed by science, or fails 
to take into account the knowledge gained by the 
pupil in his everyday public-school work, is nar- 
row, inadequate, and likely to prove false in 
matters of critical importance. Let us consider 
briefly some of the materials which should find a 
place in such a curriculum. 

The curriculum of the Sunday school will 
naturally be biblio-centric, that is, the Bible will 
furnish the source material, if it be not the actual 
text-book of study for much of the instruction 
given. The teaching of the school on its intel- 
lectual side will center in the development of re- 
ligion and the progressive divine revelation. It 
will culminate in the great fundamental principles 
and truths which in the Bible have been grouped 
together and given classic and abiding form. 
For this instruction there is no substitute for 
the inspired utterances of Hebrew lawgiver, 



All Truth 
Important for 
Religion 



The Course 
Biblio-Centric 



74 



The Graded Sunday School 



Material Not 

Exclusively 

Biblical 



Nature ', 
Stories, 
Legends 



priest, psalmist, and prophet; no revelation com- 
parable with that set forth in the life and words 
and works of Jesus of Nazareth. And the 
library of selected books in which are found the 
stories of Abraham and Moses, of Samuel and 
David, of Amos and Isaiah, the library in which 
is preserved the record of the life of Christ and 
the foundation of the Christian Church, is none 
other than our Bible. The Bible will therefore 
of necessity furnish much of the subject-matter 
of religious instruction, both in Jewish and in 
Christian Sabbath schools. 

But this does not mean that the Bible will be 
the only source from which the subject-matter 
for the Sunday-school curriculum is to be drawn. 
Our starting point in religious training is, as we 
have seen, not the material of instruction at all, 
but the needs of the unfolding life of the child. 
In meeting these changing needs at successive 
periods of the pupil's development it will be nec- 
essary many times to turn for illustrative and 
other materials to sources more completely within 
the range of the pupil's natural and more im- 
mediate' interests. That this should be neces- 
sary is evident when we remember that the Bible 
is not and never was intended primarily for 
children. 

For the teacher's work of the lower elementary 
grades the child's natural home-and-out-of-door 
environment furnishes an exhaustless wealth of 
story material which the Sunday-school curri- 
culum should present in available form for use 
in teaching. The little child must be led to 
understand and appreciate the heavenly Father's 



Subject-Matter of Instruction 75 

loving care for all his creatures in such a way 
that he will respond naturally in loving trust 
and obedience. Nature and home-life stories, 
fairy tales, myths, folklore, and legends all have 
a place here. It is necessary only that each 
should be kept in its proper place, and not be 
given that which belongs to statements of fact or 
to historical studies. 

In the Junior and Intermediate grades bio- Biography 
graphical studies from the Bible should be supple- 
mented by briefer courses setting forth the life 
and work of a selected number of the most con- 
spicuous church heroes from apostolic to modern 
times. In seeking during this period to incul- 
cate and strengthen right habits of truthfulness, 
obedience, and service there will be need of ex- 
amples chosen from secular history and from 
present-day life. 

In the choice of memory selections throughout Hymns, 
the grades in which such are used a goodly ^nd^RkuTi 
number of the greatest and best hymns of the 
Church should be included, along with the beat- 
itudes, commandments, psalms, and selected 
passages and chapters from the Bible. The 
claim of the catechism to a place of prominence 
in every curriculum of religious instruction will 
be conceded. Some of the catechisms in current 
use are perhaps sadly in need of revision; but, 
this question aside, the Sunday-school curriculum 
should supply the need for doctrinal instruction 
at the proper time and in right proportion. 

Parallel with the chronological study of Bible church 
history in the Intermediate and Senior Depart- ^1^°^^^° 
ments a course in denominational and general Religion 



76 



The Graded Sunday School 



Art and 
Literature 
Inspired by 
Faith 



Social Studies 



church history should be given. In the Senior 
Department (17-20) a profitable subject of 
study, viewed in the light of its influence in 
broadening the religious outlook and horizon of 
the pupil, would be a comparative study of re- 
ligions or a brief course in the historic develop- 
ment of religion. The faith or creed that is 
not strengthened by an unprejudiced comparison 
with the faiths and creeds held by other peoples 
and races itself needs some revision. 

Still another most profitable and inspiring 
field of inquiry into which Senior and Adult 
students should be introduced, at least inciden- 
tally, is that of discovering and studying some 
of the accumulated treasures of art, music, and 
literature that have been inspired by religious 
faith and aspiration. For those whose thoughts 
have never been turned into this channel a reve- 
lation of the all-pervading, uplifting influence 
of religious faith among men is still in store. 
Church hymnology, the great oratorios like "The 
Creation" and "The Messiah," the masterpieces 
of the world's greatest painters, and many gems 
of classic literature, will gain new meaning from 
such a study. 

The Advanced Division of the school affords 
an opportunity for a large variety of optional 
studies adapted to the interests and preferences 
of the particular class group. The general prob- 
lem of the application of the principles of re- 
ligious faith to modern life presents many attrac- 
tive lines of study. The social conditions, needs, 
and agencies for social betterment in the local 
community, the obligations and responsibilities 



Subject-Matter of Instruction 77 

of Christian citizenship, Christian ethics in 
modern business and politics, the Church and 
the changing social order, and other similar 
topics might profitably engage an adult Bible 
class. 

Smaller groups will be interested in advanced Graduate 
studies in biblical research and kindred topics. c°""«s 
A list of type subjects for such courses might 
well include the following: 

The Hebrew Psalter: Its Origin, Growth, and Place in 
Old Testament Canon. 

Old and New Testament Wisdom Literature. 

The Period Between the Old and New Testaments. 

Traces of Greek and Roman Culture and Philosophy 
in the New Testament. 

Post-Biblical Hebrew History and Literature. 

The Teaching of Jesus as Amplified by Paul. 

The Influence of the Christian Church in the Develop- 
ment of European History. 

In a graded system of Sunday-school instruc- Temperance 
tion temperance teaching will receive more care- Teaching 
ful attention than under the mechanical tri- 
monthly temperance lesson arrangement of the 
old uniform system. Short courses of connected 
and consecutive lessons suited to the age of the 
pupil will be included in the curriculum. These 
courses will take into account both the public- 
school teaching on the evil effects of alcohol on 
the human system and the modern social and 
economic reasons for abstinence from the use 
of intoxicants. This will not exclude or super- 
sede the use of biblical material ; but it will pro- 
vide a more direct line of approach to the pupil, 
furnish much needed supplemental teaching 
material, and at the same time compel a saner 



78 



The Graded Sunday School 



New Graded 
Courses 



and more pedagogical use of the Scriptures, the 
total emphasis of which is upon the need and 
virtue of sobriety and self -control rather than 
upon the moral wrong of drinking wine and 
other "strong drink." 

Thus from the lowest to the highest grades 
the Sunday-school curriculum, while giving first 
place to Bible instruction, will also utilize much 
extra-biblical material. How this material may 
be incorporated into the courses of study has 
been admirably illustrated in the different graded 
courses now available.^ 



The Final 
Problem 



Direct 
Appeal 



INFLUENCING THE WILL IN SUNDAY-SCHOOL 
INSTRUCTION 

Granted a proper provision for the emotional 
and intellectual factors in the Sunday-school 
curriculum, we have still to face the problem of 
how finally the desired response of the will in 
right action may be secured. This, after all, is 
the end, the ultimate goal of all religious train- 
ing. It is not enough to know the truth and feel 
deep stirrings of religious emotion. Knowing 
and feeling, to become vital, must result in doing. 
The emotion must lead to effort; the idea must 
take form in action. Let us consider briefly how 
this is brought about or accomplished. 

We speak of appealing directly to the will, and 
of urging a person to decide for the right and 
against the wrong. But just what is it that we 
actually do in making such an appeal? To state 
it somewhat technically : We present in attractive 
form the idea of the desired action involved in 

* Compare Chapters XII -XV of this manual 



Subject- Matter of Instruction 79 

right volitional response. Or, in simpler words, 
we suggest the right course of action, and then 
picture the end to be obtained thereby in such 
a way as to make its attainment seem imme- 
diately and above all things desirable. We do 
exactly what the salesman does in trying to 
sell his wares. He praises the goods and urges 
the advantage of immediate purchase. We extol 
the right and urge the necessity of its immediate 
acceptance and execution. In both cases a favor- 
able response depends upon the attractiveness 
of the suggested line of action to the person to 
whom the appeal is made. Not that we make 
merchandise of the things of the spirit, but rather 
that we set forth in its most favorable and at- 
tractive form the right as the highest good, 
worthy above all things else of immediate acqui- 
sition. And only to the extent to which we suc- 
ceed in making the right course of action attrac- 
tive will we succeed in winning our pupils to 

enter upon its pursuit. v a Question of 

And this brings us at once to a vital principle standards 
which underlies moral action. One man cheats 
and robs his fellows for his own immediate gain, 
steels himself against appeals of charity and 
philanthropy, that he may the more fully gratify 
his own craving for hoarded wealth or for 
pleasure. Another man gives all his goods to 
feed the poor, and spends himself in service for 
his neighbor, seeking a higher pleasure and a 
more enduring good in promoting the well-being 
of his fellows. One boy spends his evenings on 
the street with the gang, having a good time ; 
another boy pores over his books that he may 



8o 



The Graded Sunday School 



have a good lesson or equip himself for a better 
position in later life. The difference in each 
case is a difference between a lower and a higher 
conception of what is worth while, between a 
lower and a higher standard of action. 

The moral man is the man who possesses high 
standards of personal, social and civic life, 
and who does not deviate from his standards. 
A saint is a man who in addition to high stand- 
ards has a noble religious faith by which he tests 
these standards and controls his life. 

But moral standards and religious faith alike 
are largely the product of early training. They 
should be this more than they are at present. 
The foundations for both morality and faith 
should be laid long before the child reaches the 
age of moral accountability, or is capable of 
making a conscious, voluntary moral decision. 
How these foundations of character may be laid 
by the stimulation of the right and the inhi- 
bition of wrong impulses, by the inculcation of 
correct habits of thought and action, and by 
the development of high personal ideals, we 
sought to show in Chapter III. It remains here 
only to emphasize the fact that noble and Christ- 
like character normally is the product of growth 
and training rather than of sudden revolution; 
that the work of religious education is one of 
preservation and guidance rather than of rescue. 

It will still be necessary to make sure that 
with the dawning sense of independence and per- 
sonal responsibility in conduct there shall come 
a glad free choice of those ideals and standards 
hitherto accepted ready-made from others. It 



Subject-Matler of Instruction 8l 

will still be necessary ever and again to make 
the direct appeal. And it will be necessary con- 
tinually to set forth tlie beauty of holiness and 
the superlative worth of the things of the spirit, 
and to protect and guard the weak against the 
shipwreck of character by the acceptance of 
standards and ideals that are false and low. 
But gradually our pupils should come to years 
of moral and religious maturity when they will 
have outgrown the need of persuasion and ap- 
peal. Like the merchant who is no longer de- 
pendent upon the traveling salesman, but obtains 
his merchandise first-hand from the original 
source of its supply in accordance with a clearly 
defined business policy, so the mature Christian, 
the man thoroughly grounded in his religious 
faith, decides for himself in matters pertaining 
to moral conduct on the basis of firmly estab- 
lished habits of thought and principles of action. Teacher's 

This training of the will obviously does not re- "^^"^ 
quire separate or special material of instruction. 
It does require wise and proper methods in 
utilizing and presenting the subject-matter in 
the curriculum. And this presupposes that the 
teacher to whom has been intrusted the task of 
watching over and guiding the developing re- 
ligious life must comprehend his task. He must 
see the goal from the beginning, P"d he must 
know the way that leads thither. He must know 
the child, he must know the truth that he under- 
takes to teach, and he must have confidence in 
the ancient proverb which says, "Train up a 
child in the way he should go, and when he is 
old he will not depart from it." 



PART TWO 

THE GRADED SUNDAY SCHOOL IN 
ITS HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT 



IX 

EARLY BEGINNINGS IN THE INTER- 
NATIONAL FIELD 

The development of systematic religious in- PubUc-schooi 
struction in the Sunday schools of America is ^°^^^ 
closely connected in point of time with the de- 
velopment of the American public-school system 
on the one hand, and on the other with the rise 
and growth of the International Sunday School 
Association. The uniform lesson system in 
vogue since 1872 was preceded and made pos- 
sible by the Sunday-school institute movement, 
the idea of which was borrowed directly though 
somewhat tardily from the teachers' institutes 
of the public-school system. Referring to teach- 
ers' institutes as furnishing an example worthy 
of emulation by Sunday-school workers, a prom- 
inent Sunday-school leader ^ as early as 1847 
wrote: "Such gatherings give occasion to ask 
why Sunday-school teachers might not have 
similar means of improvement."^ 

It was not until ten years later, however, that Early sunday- 
the first ''normal class" for the training of Sun- ?''\°f, 

- - - - . , .^ , - Institutes 

day-school teachers was organized in a local 
church. This was in 1857 in Joliet, Illinois. In 
April, 1861, the first Sunday-school teachers' 
institute was held in Freeport, Illinois, followed 
shortly afterward by similar institutes in other 
places, principally in Illinois and New York. 
Parallel with the development of the Sunday- 

1 Dr. D. P. Kidder. 2 Gilbert, The Lesson System, p. 19. 

85 



86 The Graded Sunday School 

school institutes, county and state Sunday-school 
conventions came more and more into vogue. 
These really antedated the inauguration of insti- 
tute work by several decades, and the convention 
feature, with its emphasis upon numbers and 
its enthusiasm for propaganda, has on the whole 
always predominated in Sunday-school gather- 
ings, crowding the more careful and systematic 
work of institute instruction somewhat into the 
background. National Sunday-school conven- 
tions have been held as follows : 

First, New York city, 1832. 
Second, Philadelphia, 1833. 
Third, Philadelphia, 1859. 
Fourth, Newark, New Jersey, 1869. 
Fifth, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1872. 

Since 1869 these conventions have been held 
triennially, and beginning with the convention of 
1875 they have assumed international scope and 
have been designated international Sunday- 
school conventions. International Sunday-school 
conventions have been held as follows : 

1875, Baltimore, Maryland. 
1878, Atlanta, Georgia. 
1 88 1, Toronto, Canada. 
1884, Lotiisville, Kentucky. 
1887, Chicago, Illinois. 
1890, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. 
1893, Saint Louis, Missouri. 
1896, Boston. Massachusetts. 
1899, Atlanta, Georgia. 
1902, Denver, Colorado. 
1905, Toronto, Canada. 
1908, Louisville, Kentucky. 
191 1, San Francisco, California.* 



1 Chosen at Louisville as the meeting place for the convention of 
1911. 



Elarly Beginnings 87 

Several of the international conventions thus important 
far held mark important milestones in the de- ^"***o°«s 
velopment of graded Sunday-school instruction, 
and will be referred to again in the course of 
this discussion. At present most of the states 
and provinces of North America are more or 
less thoroughly organized, and county and state 
Sunday-school conventions are perhaps as gen- 
erally and as regularly held as are the institutes 
and conventions for public-school teachers. It 
is important at this point to note that it was the 
work of the early institutes and conventions 
which perhaps more than any other one influence 
created a demand for better Sunday-school lesson 
courses and "helps" ; and that it was the demand 
thus created which led not only to the adoption 
of the uniform lessons, but to the introduction 
of a periodical Sunday-school literature, includ- 
ing "lesson helps" in the form of weekly and 
monthly journals and quarterlies and annual 
volumes, the extent and excellence of which 
have made these publications one of the chief 
sources of information and instruction in religion 
and morals during the past three decades of 
American history. 

It is true, as Dr. Marianna Brown ^ has " Limited 
pointed out, that the American Sunday School Wesson ^^ 
Union as early as 1825 "inaugurated the 'Limited 
Lesson Scheme,' a reaction against the then 
existing custom of ceaseless memorizing," and 
that this scheme provided a five-year course of 
lessons covering the more important portions 
of the Bible. But whatever influence this Union 

* Sunday School Movement in America, p. 77. 



88 The Graded Sunday School 

may have exerted was wielded largely, if not 
wholly, through the medium of these same con- 
ventions and institutes. The work of the Amer- 
ican Sunday School Union has been principally 
one of propaganda. In the establishment of new 
schools in frontier and out-of-the-way com- 
munities it has rendered a valuable service dur- 
ing the greater part of a century. It has opened 
the way for denominational activity and for the 
planting of churches. In the quality of its edu- 
cational and literary work, however, it has been 
far outstripped by the various denominations. 
This could hardly be otherwise. It would be 
so in the case of the International Sunday School 
Association were this organization to lose sight 
of the fact that it is the creature and the servant, 
and not the rival, of the denominations, and 
should it undertake the publication of Sunday- 
school periodicals or lesson courses. 
International The Strength of the International Association 
Sunday School ^^^ jj^ ^|^^ f^^^ ^|-^^t it is the helper, and not the 

Association . r i t • • \ (^ ■* 11 

competitor, of the denominational Sunday-school 
departments. The particular part which this 
Association has played in the movement toward 
graded courses of Sunday-school instruction 
will appear in another part of this discussion ; 
let it here suffice to say that the International 
Sunday School Association has taken the place 
which would seem to have belonged logically to 
the American Sunday School Union, had the 
course of development and the chosen field of 
labor of the latter been somewhat different. 

Next in point of time to the "Limited Lesson 
Scheme" of the American Sunday School Union, 



Early Beginnings 89 

but of far greater importance in affecting the 
future development of lesson courses, was a 
lesson plan entitled "Two Years with Jesus: A 
New System of Sunday School Study," presented Dr. Vincent's 
in 1866 by Dr. Vincent in The Sunday School ^^^^^^^^"^ 
Teacher, a monthly journal started (as a quar- school study, 
terly) by him the preceding year. In his new '^^^ 
publication venture, which shortly proved a great 
success, Dr. Vincent was supported by the Chi- 
cago Sunday School Union. ^ This was the first 
series of analytical lessons and the first Sunday- The First 
school lesson periodical ever issued in America, Monthly^ 
if not in the world, and The Sunday School 
Teacher became the model after which, with 
some modification in style and ampHfication in 
scope and contents, all subsequent periodicals of 
the kind may be said to have been modeled. 

The following year Dr. Vincent accepted a The Rev. 
call to take charge of the Sunday-school depart- ^^"^^H^ 
ment of his own denomination, with headquarters 
at New York. He was, after a brief interval, 
succeeded as editor of The Sunday School 
Teacher by the Rev. Edward Eggleston, during 
whose incumbency in office the publication 
reached (in four years) a circulation of 35,000 
copies. Its name had again been changed to The 
International Sunday School Teacher. By the 
beginning of 1870 a number of denominational 
and other lesson courses were on the market, 
while more than thirteen monthly and weekly 
publications had begun to publish notes on one 
or the other series of lessons. 

It was but natural that there should be a de- 



*The Lesson System, p. 25. 



90 



The Graded Sunday School 



Uniform 
Lesson 
System 
Proposed 



Difficulties 
in the Way 



mand on the part of many earnest and aggres- 
sive leaders that if possible some one uniform 
series of lessons should be agreed upon. This 
demand was at first indorsed by Dr. Eggleston 
and the management of The International Sun- 
day School Teacher, in the hope that the course 
of lessons then being printed in that publication, 
now far in the lead in the number of its sub- 
scribers, would be adopted as the uniform series. 
When, however, it became evident that this 
would not be the case, the management of the 
International Sunday School Teacher opposed 
uniformity. Dr. Vincent, who as editor of The 
Sunday School Teacher had been the first 
champion of uniformity, had also come seriously 
to question the feasibility of such a scheme, in 
view of the denominational interests apparently 
at stake. 

Indeed, the scheme would have failed of reali- 
zation had it not been for the unwavering en- 
thusiasm of Mr. B. F. Jacobs, a layman and 
commission merchant of Chicago, to whose gen- 
erous financial support as well as personal 
leadership the early organized Sunday-school 
work in Chicago and in America owed perhaps 
more than to any other one man. It was Mr. 
Jacobs who systematically, persistently, and al- 
ways with enthusiasm worked unfalteringly for 
the adoption, of a uniform series of lessons. As 
chairman of the superintendents' section of the 
fourth national convention in 1869 he secured 
the indorsement of the plan of uniformity by 
three fourths of the superintendents present,^ and 

1 The Development of the Sunday School, p. 41. 



Early Beginnings 9I 

as member of the Executive Committee appointed 
to arrange for the Indianapolis convention of 
1872, he urged that committee at its meeting in 
New York in July, 187 1, to take some action 
looking toward the presentation of the subject 
at the convention. The committee responded 
favorably to the suggestion, and a conference Publishers' 
with publishers was arranged to meet in New conference 
York the following month. At this conference 
twenty-nine publishers were represented. Under 
the influence of Mr. Jacobs's earnest advocacy 
of the plan, this conference appointed a com- 
mittee from its own membership to select a list 
of lessons for the next year, which all agreed 
to publish. This committee of publishers found 
it difficult to come to an agreement and were Agreement 
ready to abandon the task; but the earnest in- Reached 
sistence of Mr. Jacobs finally carried the day, 
and after many delays the experiment was tried. 

The scheme still needed the indorsement of The uniform 
the Sunday-school forces of America, and this 1;^^^°^ 

. .. . f. < V T 1' System 

was given m very tangible form by the Indian- Adopted 1872 
apolis convention in April of the following year. 
By an almost unanimous vote the convention 
made the work of the publishers' committee its 
own, and appointed a committee ^ to select a 
seven-year series (changed later to a six-year 



lUpon this first lesson committee the following persons were 
appointed: Clergymen — Rev. J, H. Vincent, D.D,, New Jersey, 
Methodist; Rev. John Hall, D.D., New York, Presbyterian; Rev. 
Warren Randolph, D.D., Pennsylvania, Baptist; Rev. Richard 
Newton, D.D., Pennsylvania, Episcopal; Rev. A. L. Chapin, LL.D., 
Wisconsin, Congregational, Laymen — Professor P. H. Gillett, 
LL.D., Illinois, Methodist; George H. Stewart, Pennsylvania, Pres- 
byterian; B. P. Jacobs, Illinois, Baptist; Alexander G. Tyng, Illinois, 
Episcopal; Henry P. Haven, Connecticut, Congregational. Canadian 
members were added later as follows: Rev. J. Monro Gibson, D.D., 
Quebec, Presbyterian; A. MacAllum, Ontario, Methodist. 



92 The Graded Sunday School 

series) of national uniform lessons. Meanwhile 
Dr. Vincent, who was made chairman of the 
committee, had already been in correspondence 
with representative Sunday-school leaders in 
Great Britain, and before the new lesson scheme 
was much more than successfully launched Eng- 
land and Scotland, as well as Canada, fell into 
line, and the system thus became truly inter- 
national in its character. 



X 

THE INTERNATIONAL UNIFORM LESSONS 

At present^ the International Lesson Com- The Lesson 
mittee consists of an American section of fifteen c°™"^»"ee 
members and a British section of seventeen 
members. The latter is in a sense independent 
of the American section, though the present 
uniform lesson system is the product of the joint 
labors of both sections. A new lesson committee 
is chosen every six years at the alternate sessions 
of the International Sunday School Association, 
though members are, of course, eligible for re- 
election. The members of the committee are 
selected with great care and with reference to ' 
denominational and territorial representation. 

The first committee was instructed simply to The Plan 
select a Hst of lessons for a seven-year course, 
which was to include as far as possible a study 
of the whole Bible, alternating between the Old 
and New Testaments semiannually or quarterly, 
as the committee might deem best. It was re- 
quired to select only one lesson for the entire 
school. Since that time several important 
changes have come about. A uniform lesson 
for the entire school is still offered, though the 
list of lessons in this uniform series is now 
planned to cover the Bible in six, instead of as 
formerly in seven, years, that is, in two hundred 
and sixty- four lessons ; twenty- four lessons of 
the three hundred and twelve in the series, or 

^ IQIO. 

93 



94 



The Graded Sunday School 



four each year, being devoted to special temper- 
ance instruction, and the same number to general 
reviews. 

But by the side of this single uniform lesson a 
carefully graded course of Bible study with 
special lessons for various grades and ages has 
been gradually built up; and the New Interna- 
tional Graded Course, recently inaugurated under 
the auspices of the lesson committee chosen at 
Louisville (June, 1908), is the rich product of 
the long period of development through which 
Sunday-school instruction has been passing. 

No careful student of the subject can fail to 
note the very great improvement of the new 
system over the old, and the transition has pro- 
ceeded far more rapidly than even the most 
optimistic advocates of graded lesson courses had 
expected, especially inasmuch as the East and 
the West, the North and the South are seeking 
to keep step with each other in the advance. In- 
deed, it is to be questioned whether the progress 
all along the line in Sunday-school work could 
have been so rapid and marked but for the strong 
bond of union furnished by the uniform lesson 
with its attendant advantages, some of which 
have sometimes been overlooked by the critics of 
the uniform system. 

The machinery of the International Associa- 
tion, which is still far from being perfected 
even to-day, has necessarily appeared somewhat 
cumbersome and unwieldy to those who were in 
the forefront of the aggressive wing of the great 
Sunday-school army, and to those more especially 
who as experienced educators have sometimes 



International Unifonn Lessons 95 

looked in vain for even an approximation to the 
recognized pedagogical principles in current Sun- 
day-school methods. Nevertheless, the machin- 
ery has had its advantages, and while slow of 
motion has proved effective in distributing the 
net resulting gain over a larger territory, and, in 
a measure at least, in bringing to the multitudes 
the advantages of the few. And while there 
are educational centers, and larger sections of 
the country as well, in which the average Sunday 
school makes a very poor showing in comparison 
with the public schools by which it is surrounded, 
there are other centers and districts where a 
similar comparison would perhaps not be wholly 
unfavorable to the Sunday school. 

Some of the so-called advantages of a uniform service of 
lesson for the whole school, for which the friends uniform 
of the system long contended, were never ad- 
mitted to be such by others. Regarding the 
system in perspective, however, there are unde- 
niable services which it has rendered to the Sun- 
day-school movment as a whole. It may be said 
to have brought order out of chaos and to have 
substituted enthusiasm for indifference. It has 
fostered an interest in Bible reading and study, 
while its interdenominational scope and char- 
acter has done much toward lessening denomina- 
tional differences and developing a spirit of reli- 
gious tolerance and a consciousness of interde- 
nominational fellowship. It has given rise to 
a type of religious literature to which reference 
has already been made, but the significance and 
value of which has seldom been fully appreciated. 
The fact of uniformity permitted concentration 



System 



96 



The Graded Sunday School 



and made possible the production of a high grade 
of lesson periodicals at nominal cost. At the 
same time, the demands made upon the men 
in charge of the Sunday-school interests of the 
various Churches in regard to intellectual and 
educational qualifications are steadily increasing, 
while in point of salary the denominational Sun- 
day-school editor or secretary to-day ranks in 
most cases among the best paid of the general 
executive officers of his Church. These facts 
are a tribute to the present-day widespread and 
intelligent interest in Sunday-school work, which 
interest would be hard to conceive apart from the 
unity, cooperation, and enthusiasm which have 
characterized organized Sunday-school work in 
America since 1875, or without an adequate 
channel of communication between Sunday- 
school leaders and their vast constituencies 
which an extensive and splendid Sunday-school 
literature has furnished. Cooperation, enthusi- 
asm, and literature are, however, alike traceable 
in large measure to the unifying influence which 
the uniform lesson system has exerted. 

Having thus set forth somewhat at length the 
favorable aspects of the uniform lesson system, 
we turn now to a brief analysis of its inherent 
defects. 

The lessons of this system are selected on the 
basis of what in the estimation of its framers 
should constitute the subject-matter or material 
of Sunday-school instruction, and with a view 
to covering the whole Bible in a given period of 
years. The center of interest for the system lies 
in the Bible, the Church, and the Sunday-school 



International Uniform Lessons 97 

organization itself, rather than in the children 
who are to be instructed. It offers the same 
lesson passage to all regardless of age or previous 
instruction. Children not yet able to read and 
write are given the prologue to the Gospel of 
John (lesson for January 5, 1908), selected pas- 
sages from the Acts and Epistles (lessons for 
1909), or equally difficult passages from the Old 
Testament (Lessons from the Minor Prophets, 
191 1 ), because these must be included somewhere 
in the course, and because a uniform lesson for 
the whole school is considered essential. 

But this is contrary to every recognized prin- unpedagogicai 
ciple of child psychology and religious pedagogy, 
which alike insist on making the self-active, de- 
veloping child and his changing needs the start- 
ing point and the determining factor in the choice 
of the material of instruction. 

If, for example, we examine the International a concrete 
Lessons in the Gospel of John for the period Example 
January to June, 1908, with a view to determin- 
ing their value for a class of boys from ten to 
twelve years of age, we must conscientiously take 
exception to such lessons as the following: 

January 5. The Word Made Flesh. John i. 1-18. 
February 9. Jesus and the Woman of Samaria. John 

4. 1-42. 
March 8. Jesus the Bread of Life. John 6. 22-51. 
April 19. Jesus Anointed at Bethany. John 12. i-ii, 

and others of similarly mystical import. 

The difficulty is not that some valuable kernel other Material 
of truth cannot be culled from every one of these More Essential 
lessons, and clothed by skillful teachers in Ian- " 
guage suitable to the needs of boys of the ages 



Not Intended 
for Children 



98 The Graded Sunday School 

indicated. But boys pass through this particular 
and important period of life only once, and in the 
natural order and development of their whole 
religious and moral nature there are other things 
more essential for their consideration and study, 
and which if not mastered now can never again 
be acquired under such favorable conditions. 
The philosophical mysticism of John's Gospel, 
moreover, was never intended for children. 
Gospel of John As a matter of fact, it should be borne in mind 
that no part of the Bible was written specially for 
children. This emphasizes the necessity for mak- 
ing selections from the Bible for the study by 
immature minds with much care, and on some 
other basis than that of a mechanical division of 
its total contents. In the Gospel of John the 
stories and incidents, the miracles and parables 
recorded are incidental to its chief aim and 
purpose, and if these are used with profit to 
younger pupils they must be studied wholly with- 
out relation to their connection with the consecu- 
tive narrative and the argument of the author, 
and therefore treated in a manner foreign to the 
purpose which they were intended originally to 
serve, and foreign also to the purpose which in 
connection with their context they should still 
serve with pupils of proper age. It is, of course, 
entirely proper to take these stories of miracles 
and other incidents and use them together with 
other material selected from other parts of the 
sacred volume in teaching children; but such 
use is quite another matter from a consecutive 
study of the whole Gospel for a period of six 
months or longer. 



International Uniform Lessons 



99 



Any superficial or awkward handling of this Depreciating 
heavy material, moreover, which fails to com- I'utyeVaiue 

, ,,,,,. . , . , of Material 

mand and hold the mterest of a class of boys at 
this age, will tend to depreciate the value of this 
material for future use at the proper time. It is 
a recognized fact that the average attendance and 
order in boys' classes in many of our schools is 
a disgrace to the Church, and such as would not 
be tolerated in public schools. But if this course 
of lessons is not suited for boys of from ten to 
twelve years, it is much less suited to pupils of 
still younger years, while to ask teachers in the 
Primary and Beginners Departments to teach a 
consecutive series of lessons from the Gospel of 
John, or from the Acts and the Epistles, is peda- 
gogically absurd. 

It may be profitable to glance for a moment at Lessons for 
the uniform series of lessons covering a period ^9°^-" 
of six years — from 1906 to 191 1 : 

Synopsis of Uniform Course, 1906-11 



1906. Jan.-Dec. Synoptic 
Gospels. Harmony. 
One whole year. 

1907. Jan.-Dec. Patri- 
archs to Samuel as 
Judge. One year. 

1908. Jan.-June. Gospel 
according to Saint 
John. Six months. 

1908. July-Dec. Saul to 
Solomon. Six 
months. 

1909. Jan.-Dec. Acts and 
Epistles. One year. 

19 10. Jan.-Dec. Gospel 
according to Saint 
Matthew. One year. 



Words and Works of 
Jesus. 

Stories of the Patriarchs 
and Judges. 

The Witness of John to 
Jesus. 

The United Kingdom. 

(Saul, David, and Solo- 
mon.) 

Expansion of the Early 
Church. 

The Gospel of the King- 
dom, 



loo The Graded Sunday School 

191 1. Jan.— Dec. Division Kings and Prophets of 
of Kingdom. Cap- Judah and Israel (Kings 

tivity and j^ retvim. to Malachi), 

One year. " or, 

Glory, Decline, and Res- 
toration of Israel. 

The entire series clearly takes no cognizance 
of the changing needs of the developing child life, 
being based entirely upon a consideration of the 
subject-matter or material of the course. But 
more closely examined the series is wrong even 
on this basis. If, for example, a boy of ten years 
entered in the Sabbath school in July, 1908, 
he began his study of the Bible with the History 
of the United Kingdom, Saul to Solomon, with- 
out having had the story of the patriarchs and 
of the earlier development of the Jewish nation, 
which, according to the present scheme, he would 
not be called upon to study until seven or eight 
years later, when he would have reached the age 
of seventeen or eighteen years, if indeed, the 
school should be so fortunate as to hold his con- 
tinued interest for that length of time. What 
sort of a consecutive knowledge of Old Testa- 
ment history a pupil may be supposed to acquire 
under such a system it is easy to infer. 

But the main objection to the uniform lesson 
system lies still deeper. The principle of uni- 
formity itself is wrong. Valuable as has been 
the system in preparing the way for something 
better, it no longer meets the needs of the situa- 
tion. With the transfer of emphasis to the edu- 
cational aim and work of the Sunday school a 
change from uniform to graded lessons became 
imperative. 



International Uniform Lessons lot 

If the Sunday school is to be a school in fact a school in 
as well as in name, the course of Bible instruc- ^^^^ 
tion which it offers must be based upon recog- 
nized pedagogical principles, and not on any. 
logical scheme of mechanical uniformity, how- 
ever cleverly adapted to lessen its own inherent 
defects. 

It was inevitable that a radical change in system change of 
should come. That this change has come as soon System 
as it has, and that the transition from the old "*^* * 
to the new is being accomplished with so little 
friction, is one of the things made possible by 
the system which is now giving way to a new and 
better curriculum of religious instruction for the 
whole school. It will be worth our while in 
the next chapter to consider some of the steps by 
which a graded course of study for the Sunday 
school came to be realized. 



XI 



Point of 
Departure 



Primary 
Teachers 
Union 



A Two-Year 
Course for 
Beginners 



STEPS TOWARD THE GRADED SYSTEM 

The point at which the need of specialized 
courses taking more adequate account of the age 
and resulting peculiar needs of the pupils was 
naturalty felt first was in the Beginners and 
Primary Departments of the school. Fortunately 
for the Sunday schools, these have also been 
the departments for which it has been possible 
to enlist the services of trained teachers. Public- 
school kindergartners and Primary teachers are 
to be found in large numbers among the Primary 
superintendents and teachers of the Sunday 
school. 

As early as 1870 the Sunday School Primary 
Teachers Union was formed in Newark, New 
Jersey. In 1879 a National Primary Teachers 
Union was organized, giving way in 1887 to the 
International Primary Union of the United 
States and British Provinces. In 1896 this 
Union became a department of the International 
Sunday School Association, its constitution being 
amended to cover this new relation. 

To the effort and influence of this Union is 
largely due the fact that the Denver convention 
in 1902 formally authorized the preparation of a 
two-year course of lessons for Beginners that has 
since been in successful operation in a large num- 
ber of schools. This course has been excellent 
from the first and will not be changed in its 
essential features by the revision now in progress 
102 



Steps toward Graded System I03 

in connection with the preparation of a graded 
course of lessons for the entire school. 

The Toronto convention (1905) instructed the An optional 
lesson committee to prepare an optional advanced ^**J^°*^®^ 
course of Bible lessons for Senior pupils. The 
first course prepared by the committee was re- 
jected by denominational editors, and was with- 
drawn. A second one-year course on "The 
Ethical Teachings of Jesus" met with a more 
favorable reception and had a limited success. 
The third course (1908) was not very extensively 
used by denominational editors. This partial 
failure of the advanced courses prepared by the 
committee emphasized the fact that the logical 
and only practical method of procedure in build- 
ing a graded course of study for the entire school 
is from the bottom up, rather than from the top 
down. A really advanced course of lessons will 
be found generally available only when it follows 
in regular sequence upon a fully graded system 
of instruction, covering all ages from the Begin- 
ners to the Senior Department, and then only 
after such a system has been in operation suf- 
ficiently long to have prepared students for such 
advanced work. Until that time shall come the 
actual demand for strictly advanced courses will 
necessarily be limited. 

In the interim between the Toronto (1905) London 
and the Louisville (1908) conventions several Conference 
important events transpired pointing to the prob- 
ability of an early radical change for the better 
in the Sunday-school lesson system as prepared 
under the auspices of the International Sunday 
School Association and its lesson committee. 



104 



The Graded Sunday School 



Lesson 
Committee 
Takes Action 



Boston 
Conference 



The first of these events was the London confer- 
ence of October 31 and November i, 1906, called 
by the executive officers of the British Sunday 
School Union in response to the growing con- 
viction in England that the traditional methods 
which had prevailed in the Sabbath school thus 
far were unsatisfactory and would be inadequate 
to meet future needs of the Church in religious 
education. The personnel of this conference 
was noteworthy, including a number of biblical 
scholars and educators of great prominence. It 
was the consensus of opinion at this conference 
that the time had come to consider seriously the 
remodeling of the International Lesson System, 
bringing it more into line with modern needs in 
religious education. The conference therefore 
passed a resolution calling upon the International 
Lesson Committee to take up the discussion of 
this question. 

Following the action of the London conference 
came the joint meeting of the British and Ameri- 
can sections of the lesson committee of the In- 
ternational Sunday School Association (London, 
June 19-21, 1907). Until this meeting the 
British section of the lesson committee had been 
notable for its conservatism, but by the addi- 
tion of several eminent educators at this time it 
was suddenly changed from conservatism into 
an advocate of progress. Under the impulse of 
this new spirit the committee adopted resolutions 
declaring in favor of a scheme of graded lessons. 

Six months later Mr. W. N. Hartshorn, chair- 
man of the International Executive Committee, 
called a conference of American Sunday-school 



Steps toward Graded System I05 

leaders, including editors, publishers, and secre- 
taries, to consider the advisability of certain 
recommendations to the International Sunday 
School Convention, which was to meet at Louis- 
ville in June of the following year. The confer- 
ence met at Boston, January i and 2, 1908. 

The action taken by this Boston conference Graded 
with reference to graded courses of study for the Recommended 
Sunday school is stated in the second of two 
resolutions adopted, as follows: 

Resolved, That the need of a graded system of lessons 
is expressed by so many Sunday schools and workers 
that it should be adequately met by the International 
Sunday School Association, and that the lesson com- 
mittee should be instructed by the next International 
Convention to continue the preparation of a thoroughly 
graded course, covering the entire range of the Sunday 
school. 



This resolution, it is true, was prefaced by 
another, commending the old system of uniform 
lessons, and recommending its continuance, in 
the following words : 

Resolved, That the system of a general lesson for the 
whole school, in successful use for thirty-five years, is 
still the most practicable and effective system for 
the majority of Sunday schools in North America. 
Because of its vast accomplishments, its present use- 
fulness, and its future possibilities, we recommend its 
continuance and its fullest development. 

The resolutions as adopted by the Boston con- 
ference v/ere clearly a compromise, and left much 
to be desired. Graded lessons were provided for 
as a concession to a popular demand that could 
no longer be ignored; whereas, their importance 
and superiority over the one-lesson system would 
seem to have warranted at least their more hearty 



Uniform 
Lesson also 
Commended 



Compromise 
Resolutions 



lo6 The Graded Sunday School 

indorsement, if not their recommendation as pre- 
eminently the more desirable system for every 
school. As adopted the resolutions revealed the 
fact that the leaders of the International Sunday 
School Association were not yet fully persuaded 
that a graded curriculum was both desirable and 
feasible. The principle, however, being conceded 
and provision for its testing made, it was only a 
question of time until graded courses of in- 
struction when once introduced should demon- 
strate their superiority and value. 

Meanwhile a committee of elementary teachers 
and experts, working in cooperation with several 
of the denominational Sunday-school depart- 
ments, and with the American section of the 
lesson committee, had been quietly at work out- 
lining a three-year graded course for the Primary 
and a four -year course for the Junior Depart- 
ment, as well as revising the two-year Beginners 
course adopted in 1902. These courses were 
submitted to leading denominational Sunday- 
school editors for criticism, and to the lesson 
committee for their final revision and approval. 
The lesson committee was prompt to recognize 
the merit of the courses outlined, and to make the 
work of this voluntary subcommittee its own by 
formal adoption. Much of the credit for the 
splendid work done by this group of elementary 
workers is due to the chairman and guiding spirit 
of the subcommittee, Mrs. J. Woodbridge 
Barnes, for many years the Primary superin- 
tendent of the International Sunday School Asso- 
ciation, and subsequently one of the editors of 
the new International Graded Lessons. 



Steps toward Graded System I07 

But this sketch of the growth of the movement independent 
toward graded instruction in the Sunday school Experimenta- 
would not be complete without a reference to the 
pioneer work done by individual churches in dif- 
ferent parts of the country. From Maine to 
California, and from Florida to Puget Sound, 
the growing interest in better and more syste- 
matic religious training was manifest in inde- 
pendent experimentation upon a larger or smaller 
scale. Individual schools abandoned the Inter- 
national uniform lessons, and constructed courses 
of Bible study for their own use, or adopted text- 
books issued by enterprising publishers who en- 
deavored to supply the demand of these more 
progressive schools. 

By far the most conspicuous and influential of The 
these independent efforts to establish a better ''BUkesiee" 
order of things in Sunday-school work had been 
that inaugurated as early as 1892 by the late Rev. 
Erastus Blakeslee, D.D., under the name of Bible 
Study Union Lessons. Among the organizers 
and earnest supporters of the Bible Study Union 
which gave its name to the new system were 
Bishop Brooks, Professor W. R. Harper of 
Yale (later President Harper of Chicago), Dr. 
Lyman Abbott, and other prominent clergymen 
and educators. The ^'Blakeslee" lessons, as they 
are more popularly known, soon attained a wide 
circulation, and their success has been a recog- 
nized factor in bringing about recent radical 
changes in the International Lesson System. To 
Dr. Blakeslee will always belong the credit of 
having been a pioneer in the field of graded Sun- 
day-school instruction. The Bible Study Union 



tional 
Initiative 



108 The Graded Sunday School 

System which he inaugurated is described in 
another chapter.^ 
Denomina- Several Protestant denominations, notably the 

Protestant Episcopal and certain branches of the 
Lutheran Church, through their various diocesan 
and synodical organizations offered to their own 
constituencies courses of Sunday-school instruc- 
tion other and in some respects better than the 
International uniform series. Some of the lead- 
ing denominations among those supporting the 
International system took definite steps looking 
toward the launching of thoroughly graded 
courses in the event of failure on the part of the 
organized international Sunday-school forces to 
take prompt action in the matter. This attitude 
and action on the part of separate denominations, 
together with the independent experimentation of 
individual schools, was among the most potent 
influences in bringing about the change in the 
International system itself. To some of the 
courses and text-books prepared under the stimu- 
lus of this local and denominational initiative we 
shall have occasion to refer more at length in our 
discussion of the Graded Sunday School in 
Practice, in the concluding part of this volume. 
It remains in the present chapter only to speak 
briefly of two organizations, each of which in its 
way has contributed largely to the spread of 
intelligent interest in systematic religious instruc- 
tion and to creating a demand for a graded course 
of study for the Sunday school. 

The organization which in recent years and 
outside the narrower circle of strictly Sunday- 

1 Chapter XIV. 



Religious 
Education 
Association 



Steps toward Graded System I09 

school forces has contributed most to the fur- 
thering of the educational ideal in religious train- 
ing is the Religious Education Association. This 
Association was organized in Chicago, in Febru- 
ary, 1903, at the close of a three-day convention 
or conference called to consider the importance 
of moral and religious education. The threefold 
purpose of the Association is stated as follows : 

To inspire the educational forces of our country Object 
with the rehgious ideal; to inspire the religious forces 
of our country with the educational ideal; and to keep 
before the public mind the ideal of Religious Educa- 
tion, and the sense of its need and value. 

This object the Association seeks to accom- Methods 
plish by means of ( i ) Annual conventions of na- 
tional scope for the discussions of problems 
relating to moral and religious education, and for 
the stimulation and directing of public opinion, 
and for conferences of workers ; (2) Conferences 
under the auspices of state organizations, guilds, 
and departments for discussion and local stimu- 
lation; (3) Publications, including the volumes 
of proceedings of the national conventions, a 
monthly journal, "Religious Education," and an 
extensive leaflet and pamphlet literature; (4) 
Departmental organization, covering many as- 
pects of the general problem, including a de- 
partment on Sunday schools. 

The Association has succeeded in enlisting the influence 
cooperation of many prominent laymen, college 
and university presidents, pastors and teachers 
interested and actively engaged in the solution 
of the problems of reverent, scientific, effective 
character building. The influence of the Asso- 



1 lO The Graded Sunday School 



Sunday School 

Editorial 

Association 



Influence 



ciation has been felt in the church and Sunday 
school, as well as in more general educational 
circles, in the stimulation of interest in the objects 
for which it stands. Its indirect influence upon 
Sunday-school instruction has been in line with 
that of other forces working toward the intro- 
duction of graded courses. 

Another organization the influence of which in 
the movement toward graded courses of instruc- 
tion for the Sunday school has been marked is 
the Sunday School Editorial Association. This 
Association enrolls in its membership in the 
neighborhood of one hundred editors, writers, 
and publishers of books, current periodicals, and 
other "helps" bearing on the International Sun- 
day School Lessons. The Association meets in 
annual session and at the special call of its execu- 
tive committee for the discussion of plans of 
mutual cooperation in the improvement and the 
extension of the influence of the Sunday-school 
literature. Standing committees of the Associa- 
tion concern themselves with such matters as the 
International Sunday School Lessons, Teacher- 
Training Courses, Syndication of Material, 
Postal Regulations, etc. 

The possibilities for effective influence on the 
part of the Association lie in the fact that through 
the publications for the editorial policy of which 
its members are responsible the organization is 
in direct and intimate touch with a combined 
Sunday-school constituency representing more 
than 100,000 schools, with an enrollment of per- 
haps over 10,000,000 pupils, oflicers, and teach- 
ers. This influence has been one of the most 



Steps toward Graded System I I I 

powerful at work in bringing about the change 
from a uniform lesson to a graded course of 
study in the Sunday school. 

The International Sunday School Convention The New 
that met at Louisville, Kentucky, in June, 1908, courses 
finally authorized and ordered the preparation of 
a graded course of instruction for the whole 
school. The lesson committee, with the assist- 
ance of its efficient subcommittees of Primary, 
Junior, and Intermediate workers, in compliance 
with the instruction of the convention has since 
issued a three-year Primary, a four-year Junior, 
and a four-year Intermediate course of lessons, 
at the same time revising the original two-year 
Beginners course. It has thus provided for a 
graded course covering eleven years of work 
above the Beginners or Kindergarten Depart- 
ment, and corresponding in a general way to the 
Primary, Grammar, and High School grades 
of the public-school courses. In addition to this 
a four-year Senior course is also in preparation. 
To an analysis of these courses issued under the 
auspices of the International Sunday School As- 
sociation we shall give our attention in a 
subsequent chapter. 



PART THREE 

THE GRADED SUNDAY SCHOOL IN 
PRACTICE 



113 



XII 



THREE UNIVERSITY SCHOOLS 

Much of the inspiration leading to the intro- university 
duction into American Sunday schools of better Leadership 
courses of instruction and better methods of 
teaching has come from university centers. 
Prominent educators, members of the facul- 
ties of Clark, Columbia (Teachers College), Chi- 
cago, Yale, and Northwestern Universities, the 
Southern Baptist and Union Theological Semi- 
naries, the Hartford School of Religious Peda- 
gogy, and other institutions of higher learning, 
have long been constructive critics of the Inter- 
national system of Sunday-school instruction. 
While in many cases these educational leaders 
have mercilessly arraigned and condemned the 
older system and methods, they have not failed at 
the same time to point out the way to something 
better. This they have done both in able theoreti- 
cal discussions of the problems dealing with reli- 
gious and moral education, and with the modern 
Sunday school and its curriculum, and in actual 
experimentation in Sunday schools organized 
and conducted along lines in harmony with the 
principles of modern pedagogy. 

For a list of the more important books which Bibliography 
have resulted from this professional and scholarly 
leadership in the Sunday school the reader is 
referred to the references in connection with sep- 
arate chapters of Part I of this volume, and to 
115 



] 1 6 The Graded Sunday School 



Three Model 
Schools 



Unique 
Features 



the fuller Bibliography which appears in the 
Appendix. 

Among the Sunday schools in which graded 
curricula have been in actual successful operation 
sufficiently long and under sufficiently competent 
leadership to entitle them to recognition as model 
experimental schools, three have been perhaps 
more in the public eye than others. These are the 
Sunday schools connected with Teachers College, 
Columbia University, New York city, and the 
Hyde Park Baptist and University Congrega- 
tional Schools, both closely in touch with the 
University of Chicago. 

model sunday school at columbia university 
(teachers college) 

The Model Sunday School at Columbia Uni- 
versity is unique in several important particulars : 
(i) It has exceptional facilities for its work, 
meeting as it does in the classrooms and chapel of 
Teachers College, the university school of peda- 
gogy. (2) The school is not connected with any 
church organization, its management and direc- 
tion being in the hands of an executive committee 
elected by the parents of the children attending. 
This executive committee in turn engages the 
teachers and appoints supervisors to formulate 
the course of study. (3) The acting principal, 
the supervisors, and the chairman of the execu- 
tive committee are all specialists in the field of 
education, being either members of the college 
faculty or instructors in education. The teaching 
force also is composed entirely of men and 
women who have had a thorough professional 



Three University Schools 1 1 7 

training. Some of these are graduate students 
at the university, while others are teachers in 
public and private schools in New York city. 
(4) The class of pupils is select, the homes repre- 
sented being homes of culture and refinement, 
and for the most part of wealth. An annual 
tuition fee of fifteen dollars for each pupil ex- 
cludes many who would otherwise attend. 

In several of the features just noted the school Model in 
is really not a model school at all, in the sense of Limited sense 
being a pattern which schools generally might be 
expected to follow. Nowhere except in connec- 
tion with a college or university could the same 
facilities, teaching force, and constituency be 
secured. Nor would the existence of the Bible 
school, independent of direct church control, seem 
to present the ideal situation or condition under 
which systematic religious instruction should be 
given. 

The fact, however, that the direct supervision under Expert 
of the school is in the hands of recognized ped- supervision 
agogical experts of the highest rank makes it 
worth our while to examine somewhat more care- 
fully both the curriculum and the methods of 
work employed. The educational principles, 
moreover, on which the work of the school con- 
sidered as formal instruction or teaching pro- 
ceeds, if sound, must prove universally valid and 
applicable, 

A recognized principle of modern pedagogy is seif- 
that of self-expression, especially in elementary Expression; 
schools. It is the manual method by which con- Methods 
tent and form are given to self-expression. The 
pupil is to learn by doing, that is, by expressing 



Curriculum 



1 1 8 The Graded Sunday School 

in some concrete way the ideas which he has and 
those which he is endeavoring to acquire or to 
more thoroughly master. The teacher, instead 
of simply imparting knowledge by word of 
mouth, or by means of book instruction — which 
alike permit the pupil to remain to a large degree 
passive and content to imitate and to absorb by 
memory processes — seeks rather to stimulate the 
pupil to constructive effort, permitting his natural 
talent to be developed in the process of discover- 
ing and framing for himself a given fact, prin- 
ciple, or truth. Hence the hand is employed as 
far as possible in expressing what a child is en- 
gaged in learning. 
Graded This fundamental principle of self-expression 

finds its counterpart in another principle, namely, 
that the ideas projected in manual work must he 
ideas which it is natural for the child at a given 
age to frame or to express, or, in other words, 
that the subject-matter of instruction must be 
suited to the age of the pupil. And as the 
principle of self-expression demands for its reali- 
zation the manual method of instruction, so 
this second principle demands for its realization 
the scientifically graded curriculum. But both of 
these principles, if correct, are of necessity as 
valid in the realm of religious instruction as in 
that of secular education, as important for 
teachers in the Sunday school as for teachers in 
the day school. For these two educational prin- 
ciples, then, the Model Sunday School at Colum- 
bia University stands, and it remains for us to 
illustrate how they are carried out in the actual 
practice of the school. 



Three University Schools 1 1 9 

The subject-matter of the curriculum is The 
grouped under three heads, namely: I. Religious curriculum 
literature; II. Biblical history; III. Church 
history. 

The work in the Kindergarten falls entirely The 
under the first of these heads and consists of the Kindergarten 
presentation of Bible and other stories, memory 
work in Bible passages, songs, hymns, and poems. 
Object lessons and manual work accompany the 
presentation of the stories, which are selected 
with reference to their historical setting or 
chronological order. 

In Grade I, consecutive stories of Jesus, his The 
life and works are added, forming the beginning ^1.^™^°*^^ 
of the work in biblical history. In Grade II, (i-vin) 
the first work in church history is introduced in 
the form of stories about modern foreign mis- 
sions. The biblical literature work in Grades 
I- VI inclusive consists largely of memory work 
for which selected psalms and proverbs, texts 
and hymns furnish the material. Other Bible 
passages are read, the selections being made by the 
teacher. The Bible history work for these grades 
comprises, in addition to selected stories, consecu- 
tive narratives from the life of Jesus and stories 
of the earlier prophets, patriarchs, and New 
Testament characters (especially Paul). With 
the stories of the patriarchs, which are introduced 
in Grades II and III, the study of the history of 
Israel begins. This study continues through 
Grade VI . Work in church history in these 
grades (II-VI) is confined to a study of modern 
missions by countries, this study being chiefly 
biographical. In Grades VII and VIII the study 



1 20 The Graded Sunday School 



High-School 
Department 



Graduate 
Department 



in biblical literature takes up the teachings of 
Jesus ; the life of Jesus as a consecutive study 
at the same time forms the subject-matter for the 
work in biblical history. The teaching and life 
of Jesus are followed by studies in the lives and 
the teaching of Paul and the other apostles. 

In the High-school grades (IX-XII) this study 
in New Testament teaching and character is 
continued in the religious history and biblical 
literature work respectively. In the second and 
third grades of the High school (X and XI), the 
study of manuscripts and versions and of biblical 
masterpieces from both the Old and New Testa- 
ments is added. The biblical history work of 
the High-school section^ in addition to the study 
of the life of Paul and the other apostles, con- 
tinued from the preceding course, includes the 
history of religion within the Bible, together with 
its historical parallels. The church history for 
the High-school grades takes up in the first year 
the study of the early Church to the time of 
Saint Augustine; in the second year the subse- 
quent church history in outline through the period 
of the Reformation, and in the third year the 
later history of the Church, with special emphasis 
on the work of Whitefield and Wesley. 

Provision has been made in the curriculum for 
graduate work, following the work of the High- 
school grades, and consisting largely of elective 
courses in which single books of the Bible are 
critically studied and compared with other reli- 
gious masterpieces. A larger literary study of 
the whole Bible, together with work in New 
Testament Greek, is provided for. This work 



Three University Schools 121 

is a continuation of the work under the head of 
religious Hterature. The biblical history work 
gives place in the Graduate Department to work 
in ^'Theory and Practice," comprising courses in 
Christian evidences, pagan religions, church 
benevolences and charities, Sunday-school teach- 
. ing and personal work. The church history work 
of this department consists of the more thorough 
study of both church history and the history of 
missions by periods, and also the history of 
theology. 

UNIVERSITY CONGREGATIONAL SCHOOL, CHICAGO 

The University Congregational School of complete 
Hyde Park, Chicago, has for several years past course 
had in full operation a course of moral and reli- 
gious training extending over twenty-one years, 
and including the following departments: 

Kindergarten Department, ages, 4 and 5 ; 
Primary Department, ages, 6-9; 
Intermediate Department, ages, 10-13, 

together constituting the Elementary 

School, and, 
High-School Department, ages, 14-17; 
College Department, ages, 18-21; 
Graduate Department, ages, 22-24. 

Two classes for adults are maintained, but the 
chief interest of those in charge of the school is 
in pupils still within the recognized educational 
period of life, from four to twenty-five years. 

This departmental classification differs some- Essential 
what from that employed in other schools, and Feature 
from the scheme proposed in Chapter VII. In 
its most essential feature, however, it agrees 
not only with the scheme we have suggested, but 



122 The Graded Sunday School 



The Course of 
Study 



Aims 



also with that of every other thoroughly graded 
school as well. This most essential feature in 
which all thoroughly graded courses agree is 
the unity of the course from beginning to end, 
without cycle or spiral feature, every year's work 
marking educational advance, and being essen- 
tial to the normal religious development of the 
pupil. 

The scope and subject-matter of the course as 
a whole, and the sequence of thought and aim, 
are indicated in the titles of the separate courses 
for each department. Thus the Kindergarten 
course of two years "aims to implant the first 
principles of goodness." In the first year Les- 
sons in Love (kindness) constitute the main 
work; in the second year, Lessons in Obedience. 
The Primary course "aims to establish right ideas 
of the natural world and of human life." The 
separate yearly courses deal with "God the 
Creator," "Nature Obeying God," "God the Lov- 
ing Father," and "God's Will for Us." 

In the Intermediate the aim is "to establish 
true ideals, leading to personal religion and 
church membership." In the High-school De- 
partment the work is planned to give the pupils 
a connected knowledge of Bible history, cover- 
ing the chief events of the Old and New Testa- 
ment periods. The College Department offers 
courses in Christian activities, practical ethics, 
religion and theology, while in the Graduate De- 
partment the aim is "to enlarge the knowledge, 
appreciation, and practice of Christianity, and of 
the nature and obligation of religion and moral- 
ity." This is done by means of elective courses 



Three University Schools 1 23 

suited to the needs and preferences of the respec- 
tive class groups. 

The Sunday-school year begins in September certificates, 
and ends in June. The completion of the Ele- Diplomas, 
mentary school work is made an important life *^'"®®^ 
experience, and a certificate of graduation is 
given. Upon the completion of the High-school 
course a diploma is awarded, and upon the com- 
pletion of the College and Graduate courses re- 
spectively suitable degrees are awarded. 

HYDE PARK BAPTIST SUNDAY SCHOOL, CHICAGO 

The Hyde Park Baptist Sunday School, like a« 
the two preceding, has a thoroughly graded course Experimental 
of study. For a number of years past this school ®*^^®°^ 
has served as an experimental station, in which 
a number of prominent educators, members of 
the faculty of Chicago University and others, 
have put to the test of actual practice certain 
theories with regard to graded religious instruc- 
tion. 

The classes of this school are grouped in three organization, 
main divisions — Elementary, Secondary, and officers 
Adult. The general officers include, in addition 
to those customary in most schools, a Director of 
Instruction, a Director of Spiritual Life, a Di- 
rector of Benevolence, an Examiner, and Divi- 
sion Principals. In the hands of these officers 
and their assistants lies the work of overseeing 
the grading and educational progress of the 
school. 

The Elementary Division of the school com- Elementary 
prises a Kindergarten, a Primary, and an Ad- Division 
vanced Elementary Department. The Kinder- 



124 The Graded Sunday School 

garten Department holds its sessions from 9:30 
to 12 o'clock A. M. The lessons for this depart- 
ment are prepared and taught by a trained 
kindergartner with competent assistants. Parents 
who desire to leave their young children in this 
department during church service are encour- 
aged to do so. The Primary Department meets 
from 9:30 to 10:45 A, M._, and provides for chil- 
dren in grades numbered from i to 3 inclusive. 
General lessons taught by the superintendent are 
supplemented by special class instruction. The 
Advanced Elementary Department meets simul- 
taneously with the Primary Department, and in- 
cludes pupils of the fourth grade. The comple- 
tion of the prescribed course of study for this 
grade leads to promotion to the Secondary Di- 
vision, a certificate being awarded on such pro- 
motion. 
Secondary The Secondary Division of the school com- 

prises grades 5-12 inclusive, and meets at the 
same time with the Primary and Advanced Ele- 
mentary Departments. Promotion follows the 
completion of a prescribed course of study for 
each grade. In this division class work in indi- 
vidual classrooms begins promptly at 9 130 a. m., 
the general assembly exercises occurring during 
the closing twenty-five minutes of the session 
period, from 10:20 to 10:45 A- ^- The course 
of study for this division includes studies in the 
life of Jesus, the patriarchs, kings, and prophets, 
the Gospel of Mark (a type study), the history 
of Christianity, the apostolic age, and in the gen- 
eral introduction to the Bible. 

In the Adult Division of the school classes of 



Division 



Three University Schools I25 

men and women, some of them organized, are Adult 
engaged in lines of study of special interest to the i^»vision 
particular class group. The work includes the 
consideration of such topics as Religion in Its 
Relation to History, History of Christianity, the 
Greek New Testament, and others naturally in- 
cluded in a wider range of selected studies. 



XIII 

OTHER TYPICAL SCHOOLS 

TEMPLE EMANU-EL SCHOOL OF RELIGIOUS 
INSTRUCTION 

Thoroughness Among the increasing number of schools in 
and Efficiency which modern educational principles are being 
made the basis of both curriculum and method 
of teaching, the School of Religious Instruc- 
tion connected with the Reformed Jewish Syna- 
gogue, Temple Emanu-El, New York city, occu- 
pies a position second, perhaps, to none in point 
of thoroughness and efficiency. It is a school in 
fact as well as in name, and is accomplishing 
results of which its patrons and executive officers 
may well be proud. 

The school meets on Sunday morning, from 
ten to twelve o'clock. The first half hour is de- 
voted to general exercises conducted in the as- 
sembly hall, and consisting of prayers, hymns, 
reading from Scripture, and an address by one 
of the rabbis or the principal. Then follow two 
recitation periods of from thirty-five to forty 
minutes each, after which the school again as- 
sembles for a brief closing service of responses, 
prayer, and benediction. 
Department The school proper is divided into six grades, 

Adjuncts Qj. twelve classes — ^boys and girls being taught 

separately. In addition to these there are a 
Primary Department and a graduate class. As 
important adjuncts to the work of the school may 
be mentioned the Bible class for adults, meeting 
126 



Two-Hour 
Session 



Other Typical Schools 



127 



on Friday afternoons, the special teachers' class 
for the study of Hebrew, and the monthly teach- 
ers' conferences for the discussion of problems 
of discipline, conduct, and educational policy. 

The course of study proper, comprising six Age Limits 
years, from approximately nine to fourteen, is 
divided into grade units of one year, each grade 
in turn providing separate classes for boys and 
girls. The grades are numbered from one to six, 
beginning with the highest, which is called Grade 
I. The grades with the corresponding age limits 
are therefore as follows : 



Primary, ages 6-8 
Grade VI, ages 8- 9 
Grade V, ages 9-10 
Grade IV, ages 10— 11 
Grade III, ages 11-12 
Grade II, ages 12-13 
Grade I, ages 13-14 , 



There are two classes 
in each grade, boys and 
girls being taught sepa- 
rately. 



The school year begins with September and confirmation 
ends with the last Sunday in May. Special con- Classes 
firmation classes are formed early in December. 
These classes meet on Tuesday afternoons, from 
four to five o'clock, and are taught by the min- 
ister. In order to be admitted to these classes 
children must have attained the age of fourteen 
years and be members of Grade I in the Sunday 
school. They must also have been pupils in the 
school for at least two consecutive years prior to 
confirmation. 

A distinction is made between moral and reli- Moral and 
gious instruction. The object of the entire in- 
struction as stated in the Year Book for 1909 is : 

To develop the hearts of the children and to awaken 
in them a moral sentiment, thereby contributing to 



Religious 
Instruction 



128 The Graded Sunday School 

the formation of character. This is accomplished, 
first, by a study of bibHcal stories with especial refer- 
ence to the moral principles involved; second, by 
memorizing a graded series of biblical texts, referring 
to our moral duties; third, by inculcating the Ten 
Commandments with appropriate explanations, and, 
foiirth, by practical work, in acts of kindness and 
charity. 

This work constitutes what the educational 
committee of the school designates "moral in- 
struction." The more specific religious instruc- 
tion given consists in the study of the origin and 
significance of Jewish ceremonies and festivals, 
and the principal tenets of the Jewish faith. In 
the confirmation classes a fuller exposition of the 
Jewish faith and practice is given, with a view 
to preparing the pupils for their duties as mem- 
bers of the Jewish congregation and community. 
Course of The character and scope of the training re- 

study ceived by the pupils will be evident from a brief 

examination of the course of study. 

Summary of Course of Study 
Oral Class 

(Kindergarten). Bible stories and episodes — selected. 
Class VI. Abraham to the death of Moses, 

Class V. Joshua and Judges. 

Class IV. Kings and division of the kingdom. 

Class III. Complete review of all preceding 

periods, including critical study of 
the early narratives of Genesis. 
New pupils, of advanced age, just 
entering school are to be admitted 
into this class. 
Class II. Babylonian captivity to the dis- 

covery of America. 
Class I. From 1492 to present day. 

Biographical studies. 
Readings from famous Jewish 

authors. 
Literary study of parts of the Bible. 



Other Typical Schools I29 

The thoroughness of the work done in class Teacher's 



instruction will be seen from the following out- 
line of the work for the second grade, prepared 
by the teacher and printed for use by the pupils : 

Teacher's Outline, Class II (Girls) 

I. LIFE IN BABYLON 

1 . Cause of downfall of Jerusalem, direct and indirect. 

f Jehoiakim, 

2. Three deportations : -j Zedekiah, 

[After Gedaliah's death. 

3. Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar. (a) Geography; 

(b) Civilization; (c) Manners and customs; 
(d) Effect upon civilization of times. 

4. Condition of Jews in Babylon. Effect of suf- 

fering. Psalm 137. 

5. Religious activity in Babylon, (a) Judaism not 

a religion of location. Can exist outside a 
temple, (b) Beginnings of synagogue. Ritual 
formed, (c) Effect of study of accessible litera- 
ture of Torah and Prophets. 

II. THE RESTORATION 

1. Babylonian persecution. Isaiah 53, 

2. Isaiah of Babylon. Prophecy. "God will choose 

a heathen instrument as a means of return." 

3. Persian conquest. (a) Cyrus; (b) Geography 

of Persia; (c) Religion; (d) Manners and 
customs. 

4. Restoration. 536 B. C. (a) Period of life in Baby- 

lon; (b) Lessons learned by the Jew; (c) Cy- 
rus's reason for permitting return. 

5. First return. Psalms of Degrees, (a) Compare 

first exodus to Palestine with second exodus 
to Palestine; (b) Course of journey followed 
in each case; (c) Difference in character of 
people; (d) Moses, Zerubbabel; (e) Condition 
of Palestine; (f) The rebuilding of the temple. 

6. The Samaritans, (a) Locate province and city; 

(b) Origin; (c) Sanballat; (d) Mount Gerizim. 

7. Haggai. 

8. Second return, (a) Ezra the scribe; (b) Nehe- 

miah the layman. 



Outline, 
Grade II 



130 The Graded Sunday School 

III. LITERARY LABORS 

1. The Pentateuch, (a) Books of arrangement; 

(b) Subject-matter. Period of time covered; 

(c) Value to exiles. 

The Prophets, (a) Books, arrangement; (b) 
Subject-matter. Period of time covered. 

The Hagiographa. (a) Books, arrangement; 
(b) Kinds of books. 

2. Canon. Compilation. When completed. Lan- 

guage. 

3. Midrash. Origin. Oral Law. 

4. Targimi. (a) Sopherim; (b) Canon; (c) Syna- 

gogue. 

5. Great assembly, (a) Origin; (b) Work; (c) Ef- 

fect. 

6. Council of seventy, (a) Origin; (b) Work; (c) Ef- 

fect. 

7. Sanhedrin. (a) Origin; (b) Work; (c) Eifect; 

(d) Membership; (e) Cause of its abolishment; 
(f) Comparison with other courts. 

IV. GREEK, EGYPTIAN, AND HOME RULE 

1. Rise of Greece. Alexander the Great, (a) Geog- 

raphy; (b) Manners and Customs; (c) Re- 
ligion. 

2. Conquest of Palestine. (a) Effect upon Jew 

politically; (b) Hellenism: its good and 
bad effect upon the Jew as a Jew and as a 
citizen. 

3. The three Jewish Colonies: Palestine, Babylon, 

and Egypt. 

4. The Ptolemies. Attitude toward the Jews. 

5. Alexandria. 

6. Septuagint. 

7. The High Priest, (a) The office — what it stood 

for; (b) Its establishment (Aaron) ; (c) Duties 
of the priest; (d) The Levites, forty- two cities; 

(e) Work in the sanctuary. 

'8. The Rabbi of to-day. (a) Relation of la5rman 

and priest; (b) Great synagogue. 
9. Jaddua. 

10. Simon the Just II, B. C. 219. (a) Biographical 

sketch; (b) Work; (c) Sayings; (d) Benefits 
to Jerusalem; (e) Tribute of Ben Sirach. 

11. Office, and its relation to governing powers from 

Cyrus to Titus. 



Other Typical Schools 



»3» 



The type of examinations given and something Examination 
as to the scope and exacting character of the q"^^^^°°^' 
graduation requirements may be seen from the 
appended list of questions : 

Examination Questions 
Graduating Class (May, 1900) 

1. Into what periods would you divide the post- 
biblical Jewish history? Give a short characterization 
of each period. 

2. What are the great literary monuments of the 
Rabbinical schools? State the method and influence 
of some of these schools. 

3. Name the chief philosophers and poets of the 
Middle Ages; state their principal works and describe 
two or three briefly. 

4. Give the direct causes which led to the "Disper- 
sion of Israel." 

5. Give the circumstances attending the readmission 
of the Jews into England. 

6. Whom would you consider the three greatest 
Jews who lived after the eleventh century? State how 
their Uves influenced the people. 

7. What were the causes that led to the gradual 
emancipation of the Jews? 

8. Give a short biographical sketch and the works 
of the "German Plato." 

9. What do you know of the early settlements of 
the Jews in America? 

10. Give the divisions of the Bible and the books 
under each division. 

11. What does Judaism teach regarding the nature 
of God, of the universe, and of man? 

12. (a) What is our attitude toward those of another 
faith? (b) What is our attitude toward those of our 
own faith, but with whom we differ in practice? 

In order to obtain thoroughly competent and Teachers 
trained teachers it is required that each teacher be Trained and 
a trained educator, actually engaged in that pro- 
fession, grounded in the subjects to be taught, 
and a member of the Jewish faith. To insure 
thorough discipline on the part of the teachers 



Paid 



132 The Graded Sunday School 



Building; 
Equipment 



School 
Committee 



voluntary service has been abandoned. This 
makes it possible to insist upon punctilious attend- 
ance and exact observance of the rules and regu- 
lations of the school. 

The school at present is housed in the base- 
ment of the synagogue, not the most congenial 
or best adapted place for a graded school to 
meet. The floor space, however, is quite ample, 
and has been divided up into suitable classrooms, 
which are grouped about a central assembly hall. 
The rooms are in part artificially lighted, but 
cheerful. They are furnished with school desks 
and equipped with every needed appliance in the 
nature of maps, charts, and supplies for manual 
work. A large and well-selected reference and 
general library adds to the excellency of the 
equipment. 

The affairs of the school are managed by the 
Religious School Committee, consisting of the 
rabbi, associate rabbis, principal, and eight prom- 
inent laymen. This committee is planning the 
construction of a new Sunday-school building of 
modern architectural design and with every facil- 
ity and convenience for educational work. 



Two 
Sections 



SAINT AGNES S CHAPEL SUNDAY SCHOOL^ NEW 
YORK CITY 

Another splendidly conducted graded Sunday 
school is that of Saint Agnes's Chapel, Trinity 
Parish (Protestant Episcopal), New York city. 
Like many other schools, this one, in order to 
avoid overcrowding space facilities, finds it nec- 
essary to meet in two sections, one in the morn- 
ing and one in the afternoon. The Elementary 



Other Typical Schools 



133 



grades, including the Beginners, Primary, and 
Junior, ages four to twelve inclusive, meet for 
one hour from 9:45 to 10:45 A. m. The Inter- 
mediate (Middle), Senior, and Graduate Depart- 
ments, including all grades and classes above the 
age of twelve, meet from 3 to 4:40 o'clock in 
the afternoon. 

The grading of the school provides for six Grading 
departments, as follows: 

Home : A. 1-4 years (Font Roll) ; B. Older members. 
Primary: A. (Sub-primary) 4-6 years old; B. 6 
years; C. 7 years; D. 8 years. 

Junior: A. 9; B. 10; C, 11; D. 12. 
Middle: A. 13; B. 14; C. 15; D. 16. 
Senior: A. 17; B. 18; C. 19; D. 20. 
Postgraduate — Advanced classes. 

One unique feature of the school is its Home Home 
Department, which, in addition to providing Department 
Bible study work and text-books for invalids and 
other "shut-ins,'* undertakes to furnish helps 
and suggestions to parents for the religious train- 
ing and nurture of little children not yet old 
enough to attend the Sunday-school session. The 
purpose of this work is to secure the unconscious 
molding of character by means of the home life 
with which the little child is surrounded. It is 
suggested to parents that love, patience, courtesy, 
obedience, and unselfishness may be taught by 
example, and that it is possible to inculcate even 
in the child a love for nature and a sense of 
guardianship over all life. Simple forms of wor- 
ship and service are indicated for use by and with 
the children in the home. 

In the first or sub-primary grade, designated Primary 
Primary A, and intended for all beginners from department 



134 ^® Graded Sunday School 



Junior 
Studies 



Intermediate 
Course 



four to six years of age, kindergarten methods 
of recognized value are employed. Bible stories 
are used to teach the fatherhood, the love, and 
the care of God, and the love of Christ for 
children, together with nature stories teaching 
the care and protection of young life. In the 
Primary proper, ages six to eight, Bible stories 
from Old and New Testament are continued with 
a view to teaching God's power, as shown in the 
creation and in miracles, and his wisdom, as 
shown in the equipment of animal creation to 
avoid danger and procure food. Elementary 
devotional instruction on church sessions and 
services is given. 

The work of the Junior Department, ages nine 
to twelve, is grouped under the following heads : 
The Church; the catechism; Old Testament his- 
tory and geography ; New Testament history and 
geography. The catechism is taught with refer- 
ence to its practical application to the lives of the 
children. The geography work consists in map- 
making and in locating on these maps the places 
and events connected with the life of Jesus and 
with the Old Testament narrative studies. In 
this as in the preceding department the Bible 
stories are made more real by the use of pictures, 
models, and objects from the museum. Stereop- 
ticon pictures are given in this as in all other 
departments of the school. 

The material for the studies of the Interme- 
diate (Middle) Department, ages thirteen to fif- 
teen, is exceptionally well chosen and adapted 
for this important period. The subjects of study 
include the following: (i) Christian duty — in- 



Other Typical Schools 1 35 

eluding a study of God's law, natural and re- 
vealed; the Ten Commandments and Christ's 
interpretation of them; the laws of the Church; 
the authority of the Church and her ministry; 
the state and her officers; parents and social 
relationships. (2) Christian faith — including a 
study of the Apostles' Creed, the lives of martyrs 
and of great missionaries. (3) Christian wor- 
ship — comprising a brief outline of the great non- 
Christian religions and their geographical dis- 
tribution; the history of worship under the old 
covenant and in the Christian Church; lectures 
on the great cathedrals, church architecture and 
art, illustrated by charts, pictures, models, and 
stereopticon views. (4) The Church catechism 
completed in jconfirmation. 

In the course for the Senior Department atten- senior 
tion is given to a more thorough study of Old course 
and New Testament geography and history 
in its relation to the geography of other lands and 
the history of other peoples. History is pre- 
sented by epochs, centering about the great char- 
acters and places already familiar. The national 
life of the Jews compared with that of other 
nations; manuscripts and translations of the 
New Testament and early Christian writings; 
books of the Old and New Testament in outline; 
and foreign missions topically studied are in- 
cluded. Emphasis is further laid on church his- 
tory, a comprehensive survey of the rise and de- 
velopment of the Christian Church down to 
modem times being part of the course. Atten- 
tion is also given to the prayer book and hymnal, 
studied historically and analytically. 



136 The Graded Sunday School 



Postgraduate 
Courses 



Memoriter 
Work, 
"Worship, 
Service 



In the Postgraduate Department three courses 
are offered : one in critical Bible study by books 
and groups of books, one in church history, 
English and American, and one in theory and 
practice of teaching, including child study, Sun- 
day-school organization, administration and grad- 
ing, curriculum and text-books. 

Throughout the courses, especially in the Ele- 
mentary grades, memory work is emphasized. 
Selected verses, Bible passages, hymns and re- 
sponsive services from the church ritual form 
the subject-matter of this memoriter work. The 
element of worship is definitely cared for, both 
in the careful attention given to the program of 
song and worship for the school and in definite 
instruction concerning prayer, meditation, and 
public worship and the significance of all the 
special services of the church. On the side of 
practical application the instruction given finds 
expression in definite lines of personal and social 
service recommended. 



Typical 
Average 
School 



FIRST UNION PRESBYTERIAN SUNDAY SCHOOL 

The First Union Presbyterian Sunday School, 
New York city, is a typical average school in 
that its pupils and teachers come for the most 
part from the middle or industrial classes. The 
teachers are volunteer workers and are not paid. 
The housing and other facilities of the school 
are inadequate, basement, gallery, pastor's study, 
and choir loft all being preempted for classroom 
purposes. These facts make the successful use 
of a thoroughly graded curriculum of more 
significance, since it demonstrates the feasibility 



Other Typical Schools 



•37 



of using such a graded course under conditions 
not ideal and presenting many practical difficul- 
ties. 

The description here given is of the school as 
the author knew it in 1906. At that time it was 
under the supervision of the pastor of the church, 
the Rev. Milton S. Littlefield/ better known in 
Sunday-school circles as the author of a splendid 
text-book on Handwork in the Sunday School, 
and since 1907 the efficient Sunday-school pastor 
of Bay Ridge Presbyterian Church, Brooklyn. 
At the time referred to the distinguishing feature 
of the school was the use of manual methods in 
connection with a graded curriculum. 

Manual work of four types is carried on in 
connection with this graded curriculum, namely: 

(i) Illustrative work, including the use of 
models, pictures, and sandtable scenes to illus- 
trate Bible stories. Thus, for example, the pupils 
of one class under the direction of their teacher 
constructed a miniature Arabian tent to illus- 
trate the nomadic life of the exodus journey, 
while another class constructed a model Oriental 
house of pasteboard to illustrate some New 
Testament story. In several classes the making 
of relief maps of Palestine in sand and paper 
pulp constituted part of the work. 

(2) Geography work as a basis for narrative 
work. This includes, in addition to the making 
of the pulp maps already referred to, the tracing 



^ Since January, 1910, Mr. Littlefield, in addition to his pastorate, 
has been engaged in writing the text-books for part of the: Inter- 
mediate Course in the International Graded Series for a syndicate 
of denominational publishers, including Presbyterian, Congrega- 
tional, Methodist, and other churches. 



Distinguishing 
Feature 



Types of 
Manual Work 



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136 



Other Typical Schools 



139 



of campaigns and journeys on line maps, the 
making of maps in color showing the rise and 
fall of kingdoms and the sweep of history. 

(3) Notebook work, constituting the norm of 
the whole. The pupils of every grade above the 
Primary are required each week to write in their 
notebooks a short account of the lesson of the 
preceding Sabbath. This account is based some- 
times on the lesson as outlined in the text-books 
and sometimes on the teacher's story. 

(4) Stereograph pictures of places studied, 
used with the stereoscope. The manual work 
for the whole school is directed by special teach- 
ers, the classes going in rotation to a special 
room equipped as a manual work laboratory. 



The curriculum as indicated in the accompany- 
ing outline provides for four departments above 
the Beginners. The numbering of the grades 
begins with the first year of the Primary and con- 
tinues up through the Junior, Intermediate, and 
Senior Departments. The grading of the last 
named department, however, is not as complete 
as that of the departments preceding. 

From the survey of the schools considered in 
this chapter it is clear that a thoroughly graded 
curriculum is not an ideal which is beyond the 
possibility of attainment by the average Sunday 
school. The schools described are typical of a 
great many others equally successful in their con- 
duct of graded instruction, and which might have 
been chosen for special mention. The graded 
curriculum for the Sunday schools has long since 
passed out of the experimental stage. Such cur- 



Plan of 
Grading 



Type Schools 



140 The Graded Sunday School 

ricula have been in successful operation in scores, 
if not hundreds, of schools throughout the country 
for many years. Not only has the example of 
centrally located schools such as those described 
been followed by many others, but courses of 
study prepared by denominational and other 
publishers have found wide acceptance. 



XIV 



DENOMINATIONAL AND INDEPENDENT 
COURSES AND TEXT-BOOKS 

Several Protestant denominations in the 
United States have for years provided for their 
own Sunday schools more or less carefully graded 
courses of religious instruction. Among such 
courses may be mentioned those prepared under 
Protestant Episcopal auspices by various boards 
and commissions for separate diocesan organiza- 
tions or federated groups of such organizations; 
a course prepared by the Friends' First-day Asso- 
ciation (Quaker) ; and the courses issued by 
several Lutheran synodical associations. 

No branch of the Christian Church in America 
has in recent years stood for higher educational 
ideals in Sunday-school work than the Protestant 
Episcopal. In all the larger cities of the United 
States and in many rural communities the 
churches of this denomination have inaugurated 
and successfully conducted graded courses of 
religious instruction. A Joint Sunday School 
Commission of the General Convention acts as 
a clearing house for these diocesan organizations 
and aids in a supervisory way in directing the 
Sunday-school movement for the entire Church. 
To the influence of these diocesan and general 
Sunday-school commissions is to be ascribed in a 
large measure the high standard of grading that 
is the rule in many of the Sunday schools of this 
denomination. 

141 



Denomina- 
tional Courses 



Protestant 
Episcopal 
Schools 



142 



The Graded Sunday School 



Joint 

Commission 

Opinion 



More Careful 

Grading 

Advocated 



In its report to the General Convention of 1907 
the Joint Commission on Sunday School Instruc- 
tion put itself on record as follows : 

The Commission is of the opinion (i) That better 
instruction must be provided for the Sunday school; 
(2) That the course of study for Sunday schools must 
be improved; (3) That the Sunday school must receive 
more careftd grading and a more complete equipment; 
(4) That the Church must minister more richly to the 
spiritual life of the child, and the Sunday school must 
be kept in closer touch with the Church; (5) That 
general work in behalf of the Sunday school should 
be more efficiently organized. 

Each one of these points is elaborated in the 
printed report of the Commission, definite sug- 
gestions being made as to the best way of realiz- 
ing the improvement desired. Concerning the 
more careful grading of the Sunday school the 
report has this to say: 

The multiplicity and diversity of lesson-courses and 
curricula which mark the Sunday-school situation 
to-day are to many a cause of discouragement or alarm. 
But the Commission views this diversity with hopeful- 
ness, and believes that out of it will come those true 
educational principles which are destined to prevail. 
The ultimate goal is not uniformity, but agreement 
upon the principles which lie at the root of religious 
education. It is toward such a statement of prin- 
ciples, and not toward a detailed curriculum, that 
the Commission has labored. 



statement of 
Principles 



The Statement of principles referred to covers 
the work of all departments of the school, and 
indicates for each both the aim and the material 
of instruction. We quote the statement in full : 

(i) Primary Department. (Embracing the Kinder- 
garten and ages up to about eight.) Aim. — To plant 
in the heart of the child those first truths of Christianity 
which underlie the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the 



Courses and Text- Books 1 43 

Ten Commandments, viz. : God's love, care, wisdom, 
power — which form the basis for inculcating obedience 
and love, and inspiring reverence and worship in the 
child. Material. — Stories from the Old Testament 
and from the New Testament; stories from nature, 
from daily life, and from the mission field. Memory 
Work. — Simple poems; selected Bible verses and 
hymns; the Lord's Prayer; the 23d Psalm; simple 
prayers; grace at meals, and proper devotional forms 
for home use. 

(2) Junior Department. (Ages, 9-12.) Aim. — 
The moral education of the child, the deepening of his 
sense of duty to others, the direction of his social rela- 
tions and activities, and the establishment of moral 
and religious habits. Material. — The life of Christ in 
story; the Christian year; the catechism (elementary) ; 
the prayer book; Old Testament stories (as in the 
preceding department, but more biographical in form) ; 
elementary study of the life of Christ; missionary 
history studied in its great characters. These subjects 
should be accompanied by the self-activity of the child 
in map and manual work. Spiritual Life. — The wor- 
ship of the Church; the adaptation of offices of devo- 
tion to the need of the child ; the cultivation of private 
prayer at home and in the church. Memory Work. — 
Collects; canticles; selected psalms, hymns, and 
passages of Scripture; suitable selections from other 
literature. 

(3) Middle Department. (Ages, 13-16.) Aim. — 
The building of a strong, devout, helpful Christian 
character. This period includes the years in which 
the largest percentage come to confirmation and 
personal religious confession, or, on the other hand, 
take the fatal steps toward evil. Emphasis is to be 
placed on the personal life, the realization of the 
principles and teachings of our Lord, his authority 
as a teacher and an example. Material. — Old Testa- 
ment history as the moral development of a nation; 
its type characters, great events, crises; a more ad- 
vanced study of the life of Christ; his moral and 
spiritual teachings; the beginnings of the Church; 
missionary expansion; leaders of Christian history; 
church worship; typical forms of Christian and social 
service. Spiritual Life. — Confirmation and the holy 
communion; private and public worship; prayer for 
others, for the world, the Church, the diocese, the 
parish; for those newly confirmed, the unconfirmed; 



144 The Graded Sunday School 

for those who are careless, and for the development 
of personal interest in others. 

(4) Senior Department. (Ages, 17-20.) There 
should be a clear distinction between the regular 
Sunday-school course and the studies of later years, 
A determining point analogous to graduation should 
be reached. This period presents the last opportunity 
most will have for consecutive study. It should 
therefore cover such subjects as will best fit the pupil 
for his future as a Christian and as a churchman. 
Aim. — ^The determining of Christian character; moral 
conviction; comprehension of the divine origin and 
mission of the Church; responsibility for carrying on 
the work of Christ. Material. — The prayer book; 
Christian doctrine; church history; church polity; 
missionary work; the Bible studied in sections, by 
periods, by books, e.g., the Psalter, Messianic prophe- 
cies, the teachings of the Lord Jesus, selected epistles. 
Spiritual Life. — Emphasis upon the corporate life of 
the Church; common worship, fellowship, and service. 

(5) Postgraduate Department. Either (a) Normal 
Course. Aim. — The preparation of persons for service 
as teachers. Material. — ^The study of child nature; 
principles and methods of teaching; Sunday-school 
organization and administration; synthetic study of 
the Old Testament; the life of Christ; the history 
and worship of the Church. Or (b) Elective Courses. 
Aim. — The broadening of Christian knowledge in the 
individual and the home, leading to deeper interest in 
the work and worship of the Church, and the cultivation 
of home and family worship. Material. — Studies in 
Bible history; the history of the canon of Scripture; 
prayer book ; liturgies ; the social service of Christianity . 

Massachusetts The Board of Education of the Diocese of 
Curriculum Massachusctts may be taken as typical of similar 
diocesan boards throughout the church. This 
Board prepares for the schools of the diocese a 
Sunday-school curriculum indicating the sub- 
jects for study, illustrative materials, memory 
selections, and suggestions for training in the 
Christian life for each grade of the course. As 
an illustration of the care with which the outlines 
for the several departmental courses are pre- 



Courses and Text-Books I43 

pared, we give herewith the general outHne for 
Primary grades: 

General Outline for Primary Grades 

The religious education of the young child should 
center in the conception of God as a loving Person, 
speaking through nature, manifest in history, and 
completely revealed in Christ. The conscious aim of 
the teacher should be to bring the child through Christ 
into personal relationship with God, and to stir in the 
child the desire and the effort to be like him. Christ 
is the starting point and the goal. Through him and 
by means of a vivid and compelling presentation of 
his life and his Person must come the incitement that 
will lead the child to accept Christ as his Lord and 
Master. Through Christ as the consummation of 
life and character, the characters of the Old Testament 
should be interpreted, and their spiritual history 
viewed as anticipatory of him. Through the fulfill- 
ment of God's purpose and God's self-revelation in 
Christ, we may learn to understand his less complete 
revelation and less perfect realization in all those 
struggling and devout souls who came before and fol- 
lowed after Christ, and who like him "walked with 
God." The lessons presented have three aspects: 
First, the ideal presented in Christ; second. Old 
Testament stories and characters imperfectly pre- 
figuring the same ideal; third, the point of contact 
with the life and experience of the child. All material 
used should emphasize these main points and serve 
to bring them home to the child. 

The series of lessons suggested begins with: 

I. God's loving care as illustrated in nature. 
(i) Talks on nature emphasizing nature's bounty. 

(2) Nature stories pointing to a world filled with love. 

(3) God's love behind nature and working through 
nature. (4) Man's recognition of and gratitude for 
God's love made known by Thanksgiving Day, grace 
at meals, etc. 

II. Following these evidences of God's love in 
nature, we proceed to God's love manifested in human 
life and relationships, the child's family and home, 
(i) Love creates the home. (2) Service and self- 
sacrifice the spirit of the family. (3) God's love 
behind human love. (4) God's fatherhood the source 
of human fatherhood. 



146 The Graded Sunday School 



Friends' 

First-day 

School 

Association 

Courses 



III. The culmination of God's love in his greatest 
gift, the Christ. 

(I) The Christ Child, (i) The story of the nativity: 
(a) told in ordinary language; (b) told in gospel form; 
(c) paralleled in the child's life; (d) paralleled in the 
Old Testament. To bring out likenesses with our 
human life and those differences which emphasize 
the Divine. (2) The leading events in the childhood 
of Jesus: (a) the shepherds; (b) the wise men; (c) the 
presentation in the temple; (d) Christ among the 
doctors. (3) The characteristics of the child Jesus: 
(a) growth in wisdom and stature; (b) beloved of 
God and men; (c) subject to his parents; (d) obedient 
to the will of God. Luke 2. 40, 47, 51, 52. 

(II) The manhood of Jesus, (i) the baptism: its 
parallel and significance in the child's life. (2) The 
life of Service — obedience to the will of God : (a) what 
he did; what he taught; his death; his resurrection; 
his ascension; his Spirit in us. (b) Old Testament 
stories; the great leaders and teachers; examples of 
men and women who were also obedient to God. 

The Friends' First-day School Association has 
devoted much attention to the improvement of 
its Sunday schools. The present graded courses 
of the- Association were authorized in 1908 and 
became available for use beginning with January, 
1910. The following brief synopsis of the first 
year's work for each of these courses will indi- 
cate their general scope. They are designed for 
use from January to December. 

(i) Beginners Course. — Nature and other stories 
to give the little child of four or five years a sense of 
the heavenly Father's love and purpose in the things 
of his everyday experience. Also to help him feel that 
there are laws which govern all life around him, and 
finally to lead him, through love, "from Nature to 
Nature's God." The lessons for this course are grouped 
tinder the following successive themes: God's gifts 
and care for us; Awakening life; Preparations for 
spring; Fulfillment of promise of spring; Stmimer's 
gifts; Cooperation in Nature; Preparations for winter; 
How we can help prepare and care for things; Home 
life, leading up to Christmas story. 



Courses and Text-Books 



"47 



Lutheran 
Courses 



(2) Primary Course. — Topics concerned with the 
fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man, and 
fellowship with the animal creation. The first year's 
work of this cotirse is based entirely on Old Testament 
materials, beginning with the story of the creation 
and taking typical stories in chronological order down 
to time of EHjah and Elisha. 

(3) Junior Course. — Based upon the Junior course 
prepared by the American section of the International 
Lesson Committee (comp. chapter XV). 

(4) Senior Course. — General subject (first year): 
Great characters in the Old Testament; God revealed 
as a former of character. The character studies com- 
prising this course begin with Abraham and take the 
principal characters of Jewish history down to the 
time of Nehemiah. 

Among several graded courses issued by 
Lutheran synods in America that of the General 
Council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in 
North America is one of the best. It is known 
as the General Council Graded Lesson Series. 
In the lesson material there is a closer adherence 
to strictly Bible materials than in many other 
courses published. The absence of nature and 
other extra-biblical materials in the work outlined 
for the lower grades will by many be considered 
a defect. One of the excellent features of the 
courses as a whole is the attractive form of 
both pupils' and teachers' texts for various 
grades. Above the Kindergarten or Beginners 
Department the course is arranged in units of 
one year. 

The Bible Study Union (Blakeslee) Graded Bibie study 
Lesson Courses, first published in 1891, aim to union cour«es 
provide a complete system of connected and 
graded Bible study for the Sunday school. Two 
separate and distinct courses of study for the 
entire school are offered. The older of these 



I4S The Graded Sunday School 



Old Series 



A New 
Completely 
Graded Series 



provides for six series of lessons, each divided 
in turn into four separate departmental courses, 
one for children, one for boys and girls, one for 
young people, and one for adults. In the first 
and second courses the lessons are based on 
Bible stories designed to familiarize children 
with the events recorded and with the religious 
truths suggested by them. The third course con- 
sists of connected biography and history, and the 
fourth of topics for discussion derived from the 
Scripture used in the third course. This scheme 
of grading is somewhat stilted and arbitrary and 
does not contemplate that all the courses offered 
shall be taken by any given pupil in passing up 
through the several grades of the school. 

Under the influence of the general movement 
toward more carefully graded curricula the 
Union has prepared, in addition to the series 
already referred to_, another Completely Graded 
Series intended to be more in harmony with the 
principles of modern child psychology' and peda- 
gogy. Among the general characteristics claimed 
for this series are these : 

(i) A close and careful adaption of the lesson material 
and methods of study to the varying capacities of 
childhood, boyhood and girlhood, adolescence, and 
adult age, so as best to meet the religious and moral 
needs, and develop the possibilities, of each successive 
period. 

(2) A study of the Bible by the aid of methods that 
have proved most effective in awakening and holding 
the interest of young people. 

(3) A supplementing of the Bible by such other 
material from nature study. Christian history, litera- 
ture, biography, missions, etc., as will best promote 
religious and moral development. 

(4) A practical application of the teachings of the 
Bible to the needs and conditions of modern life, with 



Courses and Text- Books 1 49 

the aim of cultivating social as well as individual 
morality. 

(5) A constant endeavor to inspire and direct the 
pupils in giving personal and practical expression to 
moral and religious truth. 

(6) Each course has 48 lessons, but the work is so 
arranged that one quarter or its equivalent may be 
omitted without affecting the integrity of the course 
as a whole. This arrangement provides for schools 
which close for all or part of the summer, enabling 
them to use all the courses in regular order. 

The new series when completed will provide courses 
six departmental courses covering seventeen °"*^^"®*^ 
grades, for pupils between the ages of four and 
twenty-one ; also a num.ber of elective courses for 
adults. The division of the series into depart- 
mental courses follows the same plan as the 
International Graded Series described in the next 
chapter. The courses already announced as ready 
or in preparation include the following: 

(i) Beginners Course, two years; ages, 4 and 5. 

(2) Primary Course, three years; ages, 6 to 8. 
Aim. — "To awaken feelings of love and trust, and 
cultivate habits of obedience to parents, to teachers, 
to God." Biblical and other stories topically arranged. 

(3) Junior Course, four years; ages, 9-12. Aim. — 
"To lead to a desire for God's control and direction in 
life by a study, of biblical and other characters, also 
to establish habits of worship and helpfulness, and to 
make the pupil familiar with the chief persons and 
events of biblical history." The special subjects for 
each year of this course are: First year (age 9) — Early 
heroes and heroines, Abraham to Solomon; Second 
year (age 10) — Kings and prophets, stories from 
Solomon to Jesus; Third year (age 11) — Life and 
words of Jesus — stories and teachings from the gospels; 
Fourth year (age 12) — Christian apostles and mission- 
aries, stories from the Acts, Epistles, and from the 
lives of later Christian heroes. 

(4) Intermediate Course, four years; ages, 13-16. 
Aim. — "To bring the adolescent into vital and per- 
sonal relations with Christ and the Church." Topics: 



150 The Graded Sunday School 

First year (age 13) — Heroes of the faith, a biographical 
study of leading characters from biblical and sectilar 
history, such as Abraham, David Livingstone, Moses, 
William Carey, Paul, John Eliot, Florence Nightingale, 
Elijah, Amos, Savonarola, Luther, Judas Maccabaeus, 
Chinese Gordon, John Howard; Second year (age 14) 
— Christian living, Bible teachings applied to the Hfe 
of to-day; Third year (age 15) — Records of the faith, 
a study of the Bible as literature, its history and its 
contents; Fourth year (age 16) — The life of Jesus, 
an historical study based on the four Gospels. 

(5) Senior Courses, four years; ages, 17-21. Schools 
or classes will choose at this point either (a) Christianity 
Course, which traces briefly the origins and history of 
Christianity and, more in detail, its practical influence 
in the life of to-day; or (b) Biblical History Course, in 
which the history, literature, and teachings of each 
succeeding period are systematically studied. 

Course A — First year (age 17) — Israel's life and 
faith, a rapid survey of the teachings of the Old Testa- 
ment. Second year (age 18) — History of Christianity, 
the distinctive teachings of Christ and the apostles 
and a survey of their development in the subsequent 
history of the Christian Church. Third year (age 19) — 
The conquering Christ, including (i) A comparative 
study of world religions and Christianity; (2) Christian 
missionary enterprise at home and abroad; (3) Prin- 
ciples of missionary practice and fruits of Christian 
conquest. Fourth year (age 20) — The work of the 
modem Church, a study of the modern Church, its 
organizations, needs, methods of work, etc. 

Course B — First year (age 17) — The Heroes and 
Crises of Early Hebrew History, a text-book in one 
volimie containing the older biblical narratives and an 
epitome of the significant facts of early human history 
and religion. A teacher's manual will suggest practical 
methods of presenting each lesson and the application 
of the biblical teachings to the life of to-day. Second 
year (age 18) — ^The Founders and Rulers of United 
Israel, the life, literature, and faith of the period from 
the settlement of Canaan to the death of Moses. Third 

}ear (age 19) — The Kings and Prophets of Israel and 
udah, from the division of the kingdom to the Baby- 
lonian exile, with especial attention to the personality, 
aims, methods, and social, ethical, and religious teach- 
ings of the Hebrew prophets. Fourth year (age 20) — 
The Leaders and Teachers of Post-exilic Judaism, from 



Courses and Text-Books 



151 



the Babylonian exile to the birth of Jesus, with a 
careftil study of the work of the later prophets, priests, 
sages, and psalmists. 

(6) Adult Courses. The senior electives in the 
Christianity and biblical history courses are also well 
adapted for use with adult classes. Classes and Sunday 
schools electing the biblical courses will naturally con- 
tinue in succeeding years with the life and teachings of 
Jesus and the work and teachings of the apostles in 
the biblical history courses. 



Both memory and manual work Is provided in 
connection with each departmental course. The 
staff of consulting editors and lesson writers in- 
cludes a number of prominent authorities in the 
field of religious education. The avowed attitude 
of the courses in matters of biblical interpreta- 
tion is that of modern historical criticism and 
advanced biblical scholarship. In both subject- 
matter and method of treatment the series repre- 
sents a distinctly intellectual emphasis and an 
effort to place Sunday-school instruction upon a 
high level of academic efficiency, for which the 
average Sunday school of the present would seem 
to be as yet unprepared. The appeal of the new 
Bible Study Union Series, therefore, will neces- 
sarily be to the limited number of schools which 
desire to utiHze fully the results of modern bibli- 
cal scholarship and to engage in progressive ex- 
perimentation in the matter of the graded cur- 
riculum. 

This survey of graded lesson courses would be 
incomplete without at least a passing mention of 
the Bible-School Curriculum outlined by Pro- 
fessor Pease in his book devoted to this subject.^ 



Intellectual 
Emphasis 



Professor 

Pease's 

Outline 



1 An Outline of a Bible -School Curriculum. 
Pease. 



By George William 



152 The Graded Sunday School 

This book aims to present in detail a course of 
study covering all departments of the Sunday 
school. The outline for each department follows 
an extended psychological analysis of the period 
of child life covered, and is accompanied by 
suggested lesson plans and special bibliographies. 
It is but fair to say that the work of Professor 
Pease has directly or indirectly influenced much 
of the more recent literature which has appeared 
on the subject, and that the curriculum which he 
outlined has guided many earnest workers in 
their effort to reconstruct Sunday-school instruc- 
tion along educational lines. We here give a 
brief synopsis of the course as a whole : 

The Primary Department 
kindergarten grades 

Source of material : Nature. 

Teaching a revelation of God the Workmait. Power, 
wisdom, love, rule; basis for reverence, trust, love, 
obedience. 

PRIMARY GRADES 

Sources of material : Nature, Bible, missionary liter- 
ature. 

Teaching a revelation of God the Loving Father. 
Sec. I. Providing for his children's needs. 
Sec. 2. Providing wise laws. 
Sec. 3. Providing guidance and help. 

JUNIOR DEPARTMENT 

Sources of material: Bible, missionary literature. 
Teaching a revelation of God the World-Rtder. 
Sec. I. Ruling and blessing a people. 
Sec. 2. Ruling and blessing the nations. 
Sec. 3. Ruling and blessing the world. 

INTERMEDIATE DEPARTMENT 

Sources of material: Bible, biographical literature. 
Teaching a revelation of God the Character-Former. 



Courses and Text- Books I53 

Sec. I. Biographies of Old Testament characters. 

Sec. 2. Biographies of New Testament characters. 

Sec. 3. Biographies of characters of post-apostolic 
times. 

SENIOR DEPARTMENT 

Sotirces of material: Bible, special literature. 

Teaching a revelation of God the Source of Truth. 

Sec. I. The Christian religion. 

Sec. 2. Ftmdamental religious truths. 

Sec. 3. The other great religions of the world. 

ADULT DEPARTMENT 

Sources of material : Bible, special literature. 
Teaching a revelation of God the Eternal King. 
All work in this department elective. Each class 
elects subjects as will be the most helpful and interesting. 

A new dignity and value is given to Sunday- The use of 
school instruction through the use of text-books Text-Books 
such as the graded curriculum presupposes. In 
addition to the series of text-books issued in con- 
nection with the several courses of study which 
have been outlined above, many others suited to 
use in graded Sunday-school instruction are 
available. Among these two separate series, pre- 
pared especially for use in the Sunday school, 
deserve to be specially mentioned. 

One of these is the "system of graded text- university of 
books for religious education in the Sunday Chicago series 
school,'' issued by the University of Chicago 
Press. This series is noteworthy in that it is pre- 
pared and edited with the cooperation of the 
faculty of a recognized educational institution. 
It comprises eighteen or more volumes covering 
all grades from the Kindergarten to the Adult 
Department. These are further supplemented by 
a number of courses for adult study prepared by 
the American Institute of Sacred Literature. A 
careful examination of these texts, together with 



154 The Graded Sunday School 

an experimental use of a number of them in a 
graded school of religious instruction, of which 
the author was for a time the principal, has led 
him to a twofold conclusion with regard to the 
series: (i) The work of the several text-books, 
especially those intended for the Junior and In- 
termediate grades, seems to be somewhat diffi- 
cult for average pupils of the ages for which the 
separate texts are intended. (2) The text-books 
are of a uniformly high standard of excellence. 
Keedy A sccoud scrics of graded text-books intended 

Series especially for the Sunday school is that issued 

by the Graded Sunday School Publishing Com- 
pany of Boston, and edited by the Rev. John 
L. Keedy. These books are planned for pupils 
from twelve to eighteen years of age. There 
would seem to be too much uniformity in the 
form and arrangement of the several text-books 
and between the separate lessons of the individ- 
ual texts. The same text-book is, moreover, 
designated for use by all pupils between the ages 
of thirteen and seventeen years inclusive, which 
in itself is absurd. The texts have the merit of 
requiring independent Bible reading and study on 
the part of the pupils and of requiring further 
a certain amount of written and other manual 
work in connection with a pupirs notebook ac- 
companying each course. 
Separate In addition to these series of connected text- 

books covering larger portions of the Sunday- 
school curriculum there are available a steadily 
increasing number of separate text-books of study 
prepared with great care and intended for cer- 
tain specified grades and ages. 



Text-Books 



XV 



THE INTERNATIONAL GRADED COURSE 

It is not surprising that after all these years of product of 
increasingly successful experimentation on the Experience 
part of individual churches and denominations, 
and under the inspiration of the example set by 
leading educators and university professors, 
there should be evolved an International Graded 
Course of study to supersede the old uniform 
lesson system. Nor is it to be wondered at that 
the graded lessons thus developed should incor- 
porate the best features of many courses already 
in successful operation. Those intrusted with 
the actual outlining of the various sections of this 
course are men and women of unusual equip- 
ment, of practical experience in graded schools, 
and of large acquaintance with the work being 
done in all parts of the Sunday-school field. The 
International Graded Course, therefore, is the 
product of actual and wide experience, as an 
examination and comparison with the courses 
already presented will clearly demonstrate. 

But experience is ever widening and growing. Properly 
It is dynamic and progressive. Therefore, its constructed 
product also must have within itself room for 
improvement. A course of study which grows 
out of experience is not completed in a day nor 
in a year. It is the resultant of a slow process of 
addition, emendation, and elimination. This is 
true of the new graded course under discussion. 
This course is not yet completed, but it is being 
155 



156 The Graded Sunday School 



Text Books 



Departmental 
Grouping 



constructed properly. The several departmental 
sections of the course are ready in outline. These 
cover the work of the Elementary and Secondary 
grades. Subcommittees under the direction of 
the International Lesson Committee are en- 
gaged in preparing the courses for each grade 
within the several departments in detail, having 
begun with the first year's work for each of the 
departments. 

The work of the lesson committee ceases with 
the preparation of detailed outline of the course 
for each grade and department. The selection or 
preparation of text-books is left to the several 
denominations and to such other publishers and 
societies as may desire to enter the field. Our 
analysis of the course at this point will confine 
itself to the general and detailed outlines thus 
far released for publication by the lesson com- 
mittee. A brief statement regarding text-books 
will be made at another point in our discussion. 

The new graded course is arranged in units of 
one year, and is thus adaptable to any plan of 
departmental classification. The grouping of the 
work into departments is, however, in harmony 
with the generally accepted usage and ter- 
minology of denominational and interdenomina- 
tional Sunday-school workers. The age limits for 
the respective groups are as follows : 

Beginners Department ; age of pupils, 4 and 5 years, 
corresponding to the Kindergarten age in the public 
schools. 

Primary Department, three years; age of pupils, 
6-8 years. 

Junior Department, four years; age of pupils, 
9-12 years. 

Intermediate, four years; age of pupils, 13-16 years. 



International Graded Course 



157 



Senior, four years; age of pupils, 17-20 years. 
Advanced; age of students, 21 years and older. 



The School 
Year 



The work of the several grades in the Begin- 
ners, Primary, and Junior Departments is alike in 
that fifty-two lessons are provided for each 
year. It is, however, intended that the school 
year be observed, the work for the several years 
being planned in each case to begin with October 
and to end with June. The lessons for July and 
August, while offering valuable supplementary 
matter in connection with preceding years' work, 
are not essential to the complete aim of the year. 
In a similar way the lessons planned for the 
month of September are of a preparatory nature, 
leading up to the work for the following year, 
which properly begins in October. 

The lesson material for the several courses is. Material 
as far as possible, taken from the Bible, but na- 
ture stories, missionary literature, temperance 
facts, and stories from church history are also 
used. The knowledge already in possession of 
the pupil through his public-school work has been 
taken into consideration in planning these courses, 
while the average natural ability of the pupils of 
a given age has governed the selection of the 
subject material. 

The purpose of the course in general is stated Purpose 
as follows: 

To meet the spiritual needs of the pupil in •each 
stage of his development. 

The spiritual needs broadly stated are these: 

(i) To know God as he has revealed himself to us 
in nature, in the heart of man, and in Christ. 

(2) To exercise toward God, the Father, and his Son, 
Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, trust, obedience, 
and worship. 



Aim 



Story Titles 



Themes 



158 The Graded Sunday School 

(3) To know and do our duty to others. 

(4) To know and do oiir duty to ourselves. 

THE BEGINNERS COURSE; AGES, 4 AND 5 

The special aim of the Beginners Course, as 
stated by the subcommittee intrusted with its 
preparation, is : 

To lead the little child to the Father by helping him 
(i) To know God, the heavenly Father, who loves 
him, provides for and protects him. 

(2) To know Jesus the Son of God, who became a 
little child, who went about doing good, and who is the 
Friend and Saviour of little children. 

(3) To know about the heavenly home. 

(4) To distinguish between right and wrong. 

(5) To show his love for God by working with him 
and for others. 

The title of the lessons in the Beginners, as in 
the Primary Department, are story titles, simply 
worded, and grouped under more general themes, 
to each of which several successive lessons are 
devoted. The themes for the first year of the 
Beginners course indicate in a general way the 
plan. The numerals following the several themes 
refer to the lessons devoted to each : 

THEMES FOR THE FIRST YEAR 

I. The Heavenly Father's Care. Stories 1-7. 
II. Thanksgiving for Care. Stories 8-10. 

III. Thanksgiving for God's Best Gift. Stories i i-i 3 . 

IV. Love Shown through Care. Stories 14-19. 
V. The Loving Care of Jesus. Stories 20-25. 

VI. God's Care of Life. Stories 26, 27. 
VII. Our Part in the Care of Flowers and Birds. 
Stories 28, 29. 
VIII. Duty of Loving Obedience. Stories 30—36, 
IX. Love Shown by Prayer and Praise. Stories 37-30. 
X. Love Shown by Kindness (to those in the Family 

Circle). Stories 40-43. 
XI. Love Shown by Kindness (to those outside the 
Family). Stories 44-52. 



International Graded Course 



159 



The themes for the second-year Beginners are Development 
related in thought to those of the first year. In of Themes 
the outHne for each year the separate themes 
have been worked out with marked success. 
Thus the Christmas theme, "Thanksgiving for 
God's Best Gift," runs through three lessons, 
two of which are devoted to the shepherd pas- 
sage in Luke's narrative (Luke 2. 1-20), and one 
to Matthew's story of the visit of the wise men 
(Matt. 2. i-ii). This Christmas theme is in 
turn preceded by three preparatory lessons on 
thanksgiving for good gifts, leading up naturally 
to the Christmas story and the thought of God's 
greatest gift to man. Contrasted with the Inter- 
national Uniform Lesson Series, in which the 
Christmas lesson, when not crowded out alto- 
gether by preparation and rehearsals for the 
Christmas entertainment, too often formed an 
abrupt break for a single Sunday in an unrelated 
series of lessons from Old or New Testament, 
this new Beginners course clearly offers a better 
opportunity to treat this theme of all themes 
with the fullness which its importance demands. 

Perhaps the topic which has been most suc- 
cessfully developed in connection with the first 
year's work is the one on "The Loving Care of 
Jesus" (Theme V, Lessons 20-25). The story 
titles of the consecutive lessons under this theme 
will suggest the possibilities which it offers for 
splendid work with little people. These story 
titles are as follows : 

Lesson 20. Jesus Caring for Hungry People (Feeding 

the Five Thousand, John 6. 1-13). 
Lesson 21. Jesus Caring for a Sick Boy (The Noble- 
man's Son Healed, John 4. 46-53). 



Concrete 
Example 



l6o The Graded Sunday School 

Lesson 22. Stories 20 and 21 Retold. 

Lesson 23. Jesus Loving Little Children (Mark 

10. 13-16). 
Lesson 24. Children's Love for Jesus (The Story of 

the Triumphal Entry and the Children 

in the Temple Court, Matt. 21. 6-1 1, 

14-16). 
Lesson 25. Stories 23 and 24 Retold. 

This theme represents the sort of narrative group- 
ing which a mother or teacher would instinctively 
make in seeking to acquaint the young child with 
the character of Jesus. The memory verses which 
accompany this group of lessons are only two in 
number, namely: 

"We love, because he first loved us." i John 4. 19. 
"Suffer the little children to come unto me." 
Mark 10. 14. 

Improvement The improvement of such a course of lessons 
over Old |qj. yQu^s: children over the old uniform lessons. 

Uniform ^ /. . . . . - ^^. . . -.-, 

System dcalmg m turn with sections from Old and New 

Testament narratives without regard to the needs 
of the pupil, is so obvious as to need no special 
comment. The writer is reminded in retrospect 
of the Sunday morning only a few years ago 
when he took his four-year-old boy to the Begin- 
ners Department of a large city Sunday school. 
Staying a little while to observe the lesson, he 
was interested more than edified by the endeavor 
of the teacher to explain to the little folks the 
passage from Mark 12. 18-27, ^he substance of 
which is contained in the question, "Whose wife 
shall she be in the resurrection ?" Under the new 
system the teacher of small children will not be 
compelled to attempt the impossible in the matter 
of adapting the story of the lesson passage to 



International Graded Course l6l 

the needs of her pupils. For this step forward 
we thank God, and in the prospect of the future 
we take courage. 

THE PRIMARY COURSE. GRADES I-III ; AGES^ 6-8 

The Primary course, Hke the Beginners, con- Material 
sists of a consecutive series of lessons with story 
titles simply worded. No attention has been paid 
to either history or chronology in the selection 
of the subject material for these lessons. Pro- 
vision is made at the end of each theme for the 
retelling of the stories grouped under it, for a 
generalization, or for both a retelling and a gen- 
eralization. This is a commendable concession to 
the children's love for repetition, and their mani- 
fest interest in that which is familiar. The 
Christmas and Easter themes are in the Primary 
course developed each year on a different plane. 

The aim of the three-year Primary course is Aim I 

stated as being: 

To lead the child to know the heavenly Father, 
and to inspire within him a desire to live as God's child : 

1. To show forth God's power, love, and care, and 
to awaken within the child responsive love, trust, and 
obedience. 

2. To build upon the teachings of the first year (i) 
by showing ways in which children may express their 
love, trust, and obedience; (2) by showing Jesus the 
Saviour in his love and work for men; and (3) by 
showing how helpers of Jesus and others learn to do 
God's will, 

3. To build upon the work of the first and second 
years by telling (i) about people who chose to do God's 
will; and (2) how Jesus by his life and words, death 
and resurrection, revealed the Father's love and will 
for us; (3) such stories as will make a strong appeal 
to the child and arouse within him a desire to choose 
and do that which God reqtiires of him. 



l62 The Graded Sunday School 



Themes 
First Year 



Second and 
Third Years 



In the selection of the themes and lessons for 
the first year a special aim has been "To show 
forth God's power, love, and care, and to awaken 
within the child responsive love, trust, and 
obedience." Beginning with two lessons on the 
theme ''God the Creator and Father," taken from 
the first chapters of Genesis, the course for this 
first year follows in a general way a familiar 
series of Old Testament stories illustrating the 
following consecutive themes : 

God the Loving Father and His Good Gifts, 

God's Care Calling Forth Love and Thar^s, 

Love Shown by Giving, 

God's Best Gift (Christmas Theme), 

God the Protector, 

God Reselling from Sin, 

together with other similar subjects. 

In the second year's work, which builds upon 
the teaching of the first year, the themes and les- 
sons chosen are such as tend to show how chil- 
dren may express their love, trust, and obedience 
in service. As a background for this teaching 
the work of Jesus as a helper and comforter is 
presented in a series of well-chosen story les- 
sons from the gospel narratives. In the third 
Primary year the special aim of the course is 
further developed by means of a series of themes 
and stories telling of people choosing to do God's 
will. Such stories especially are selected as tend 
to arouse within the child the desire to choose 
and to do the right. 

JUNIOR COURSE, GRADES IV TO VII ; AGES, 9-12 

In the preparation of the Junior course the 
committee has clearly taken cognizance of sev- 



Recognized 



International Graded Course 163 

eral important characteristics of child life dur- important 
ing this period. Before the material for the characteristics 
course was selected the two main crises of spir- 
itual awakening were carefully considered. A 
study of the full harmonic life of Christ was post- 
poned as belonging properly to the Intermediate 
period (ages 13-16), the time at which the second 
of these spiritual crises occurs. With this deci- 
sion reached the committee worked backward, 
outlining the material for each year back to the 
beginning of the Junior period, and then built up 
the course to culminate in the fourth Junior year, 
when the first marked religious crisis of life may 
normally be expected. 

The dawn of the historic sense is recognized in Traits 
the introduction, during the first two years, of 
story and biographical material chronologically 
arranged in periods, while in the last two years 
the studies comprise on the whole a continuous 
though not necessarily complete history. 

The period of child life covered by these les- Memory 1 
sons forms the beginning at least of the strong- habits 
est memory period, and is preeminently also a 
habit-forming age. The first of these facts is 
recognized by the use of additional memory work, 
many psalms and other connected passages of 
Scripture being indicated for memorization. 
These memory selections are chosen largely 
to supplement the teaching of the group of lessons 
with which they are connected, though it is not 
considered essential that they shall in every case 
bear directly on the truth of the lesson proper. 
A recognition of the importance of this period in 
habit formation is evident in the statement of 



164 The Graded Sunday School 

the fourfold aim of the course, which in the words 
of the committee is stated as being : 

Aim To awaken an interest in the Bible, and love for it; 

to deepen the impulse to choose and to do the right. 

To present the ideal of moral heroism; to reveal 
the power and majesty of Jesus Christ, and to show his 
followers going forth in his strength to do his work. 

To deepen the sense of responsibility for right 
choices; to show the consequences of right and wrong 
choices; to strengthen love for the right and hatred 
for the wrong. 

To present Jesus as our example and Saviour; to lead 
the pupil to appreciate his opportunities for service, and 
to give him a vision of what it means to be a Christian. 

The outline of material for the four years of 
the Junior work are as follows : 

FIRST YEAR 

I. Stories of the Beginnings. Lessons 1-7. 
II. Stories of Three Patriarchs. Lessons 8-20. 

III, The Story of Joseph. Lessons 21-26. 

IV. Stories of Moses and of His Times. Lessons 27-39. 
V. Stories that Jesus Told. Lessons 40-48. 

VI. The Journeys of Moses. Lessons 49-52. 

SECOND YEAR 

I. Stories of the Conquest of Canaan. Lessons 1-8. 
II. Opening Stories of the New Testament. Lessons 
9— II. 

III. Incidents in the Life of the Lord Jesus. Lessons 

12-26. 

IV. Where the Lord Jesus Is Now. Lessons 27, 28. 
V. Early Followers of the Lord Jesus. Lessons 

29-35- 
VI. Later Followers of the Lord Jesus. Lessons 3 6-43 . 
VII. Stories of the Judges. Lessons 44-52. 

THIRD YEAR 

I. The First Three Kings of Israel. Lessons 1-18. 
II. The Divided Kingdom. Lessons 19-35. 

III. Responsibility for One's Self, Neighbor, and 

Country. Lessons 36-39. 

IV. The Exile and the Return. Lessons 40-48. 

V. Introduction to New Testament Times. Lessons 
49-52. 



International Graded G)urse 1 65 



FOURTH YEAR 

I. The Gospel of Mark. Lessons 1-26. ' 

II. Studies in the Acts. Lessons 27-39. j 

III. Stories from Lives of Later Missionaries. Les- ; 
sons 40-52. 

In addition to the Bible material used there Missionary 

are introduced into the Junior course at appro- biography ; 

priate points stories from church history and j 

series of biographical missionary studies, includ- • 
ing life sketches of well-known missionaries, as, 
for example: 

William Carey (India, 1793). ; 

Robert Morrison (China, 1807). 

David Livingstone (Africa, 1841). | 

Mary Moffat (wife of Livingstone). 1 

Marcus Whitman (Oregon and Washington, 1842). 

John C. Paton (New Hebrides, 1858). ! 

Jerry McAuley (Water Street Mission, 1872). \ 

Joseph Neesima Qapan, 1874). 

j 

The stories and biographical sketches used have i 

been selected for their intrinsic interest and ; 
simply arranged in chronological order. They 

thus form a basis for later studies in both church , 

and denominational history, which form a part of ] 

the Intermediate and Senior courses. ■ 

INTERMEDIATE COURSE. AGES, 1 3- 1 6 i 

J 

The Intermediate course takes cognizance of Aim ! 

the peculiar character and needs of the adolescent \ 

period. Its aim is : \ 

To lead to the practical recognition of the duty and 

responsibility of personal Christian living, and to or- ' 

ganize the conflicting impulses of life so as to develop ; 
habits of Christian service. 

The outline of material for the four years of 1 



l66 The Graded Sunday School 

Material the coursc reveals emphasis on the biographical- 

historical material in the first two years, leading 
up to a harmonic study of the life of Christ in the 
third year, or at fifteen, which, according to such 
statistics as are available on the subject, is the 
age of most frequent conversion. The Studies 
in Christian Living indicated in the fourth year 
follow in natural sequence. The material of the 
course as indicated in the printed outline is as 
follows : 

FIRST YEAR 

I. Biographical Studies in the Old Testament, with 
the Geographical and Historical Background. 
Lessons 1-39. 
II. Studies of Religious Leaders in North American 
History. Lessons 40-48. 
III. Studies of Temperance Leaders in North Amer- 
ican History. Lessons 49-52. 

PROPOSED SECOND YEAR 

Biographical Studies from the Time of Christ to the 
Present Day: 
I. New Testament Heroes, with a Special Study of 

Paul. 
II. Leaders of Church History, Ancient and Modem. 

III. A Modern Missionary. 

IV. Temperance Studies. 

V. Studies Introductory to the Life* of Christ 

PROPOSED THIRD YEAR 

I. Constructive Studies in the Life of Christ. 
II. Missionary Biographies. 
III. Temperance Studies. 

PROPOSED FOURTH YEAR 

Studies in Christian Living : 

I. The Text-Book of the Christian Life— The Bible. 
II. Some Fundamental Principles of the Christian 
Life. 
III. The Organization of the Christian Life — ^The 
Church. 
IV. Manifestations of the Christian Life: (a) In the 
Home; (b) In the Community. 



International Graded Course 1 67 

An examination of the detailed outline for the First Year in 
biographical studies of the first year will reveal ^«^«" 
something of the spirit and method of the bio- 
graphical studies which the Intermediate course 
provides for pupils of early High School age. 

FIRST YEAR IN DETAIL 

(Grade 8) 

I. Biographical Studies in the Old Testament. 
Lessons 1-39 

FIRST QUARTER 

Memory Scripture for the First Quarter. Psa. 19. 

1. The Land Where Hebrew History Began. A 

preliminary geographical and historical study of 
the Tigris and Euphrates regions. Biblical Ma- 
terial: Gen. 2. 10-15; lo- io» II' II- i~9» 3i> 32. 

2. Abraham, the Hebrew Pioneer. Gen. 11. 31, 

32; 12. I— 10; 13. 1—4, 18. 

3. Abraham, the Man with a Vision. Gen. 13. 

14-17; 15. 1-6; Heb. II. 8-19. (To show how 
Abraham was faithful to his vision.) 

4. Jacob, the Man whom God Helped to Con- 

quer Himself. Gen. 25. 27-34; 28. 10-22; 
32. 24-32. 

5. The Land of the Nile. A geographical and his- 

torical study of Egypt to furnish a background 
for subsequent lessons. Biblical Material: Gen. 
41. 54-57; 42. 1-3; 45- 10-13; 47- 29-31; Exod. 

1. 1-14; Isa., chap. 19. 

6. Joseph, the Boy Who Was True to His Trust. 

Gen. 37. 2—4, 12—27; 39- 1—6, 20-23; 41. 33-45. 

7. Joseph, the Man Who Overcame Evil with 

Good. Gen. 42. 1-6, 13-17; 44. 18-34; 45. 
1-15. 

8. Moses, the Prince Who Chose Exile. Exod. 

2. 11-22; Acts 7, 17-29; Heb. II, 24-27. 

9. Moses, Emancipator and Lawgiver. Exod. 2. 

23-25; 3. 1-22; Acts 7. 30-36; Exod. 12. 21-23, 
29-36; Psa. 105. 23-45. 
10. Joshua, the Steadfast, Who Won the Prom- 
ised Land. Exod. 17. 8-16; Num. 13. 1-3, 
17-33; 14. 5-10; Josh. I. 1-9; 3. 5-17; 6. 1-20; 
24. I, 2, 14, 15. 29-31; Acts 7. 45; Heb. II. 30. 



l68 The Graded Sunday School 

ir. The Land of the Hebrews. A geographical 
study of Palestine. Biblical Material: Gen. 14. 
1-16; Exod. 3. 17; Num. 13. 21-29; Deut. 11. 
8-12; Judg. 4. 12-16. 

12. Gideon, the Man Whom Responsibility Made 

Great. Judg. 6. i to 8. 22. 

13. Review. 

second quarter 

Memory Scripture for the Second Quarter: 
Psa. 27. 

14. Ruth, the True-Hearted. The Book of Ruth. 

15. The Times op Saul, i Sam. 9. i to 10. 16; chap. 13. 

16. Saul, the Leader Who Lost His Chance. 

1 Sam., chap, 11; 14. 47 to 15, 35; chap. 31. 

17 to 22. David, the Man Who Showed Himself 
Friendly. The aim is to show that David's 
power to make and to retain friends explains 
his career and his character; that this quality 
gave him a unique position as warrior, states- 
man, and king, and an abiding influence on the 
life of his nation; and that his intimate, con- 
stant, and childlike fellowship with God was 
the supreme friendship of his life, exalting and 
directing his actions. 

17. Winning Favor at Court, i Sam. 16. 20-33; 

18. 1-7, 14-16; 2 Sam. 5. 1-3. 

18. Loyal to His King and His Comrades. To his 

king: i Sam. 26. 7-25; 2 Sam. 2. 4-7; 21. 12-14. 
To his comrades: i Sam. 22. i, 2; 30. 21-25; 

2 Sam. 19. 9-1 1 ; 23. 13-17. 

19. A Friend as Statesman and King, i Sam. 22. 

1-5, 20-23; 27. 5-7; 29. 3-1 1 ; 30. 26-31; 2 Sam. 

2. 4—7; 3. 31—39; 5- 1—3; lo- 2. 

20. Reaping the Rewards of Friendship. 2 Sam. 3. 

36; 5. 1-3; 15. 18-30,32-37; 17. 15-22, 27-29; 18. 
2,3; 19. 2,3,9, 10, 24-43; 23. 15-17; I Kings 1-8. 

21. The Crowning Friendship, i Sam. 16. 7, 13; 

17- 37. 45-47; 23- 2, 4, 9-12; 2 Sam. 2. i; 5. 12, 
19-25; chaps. 6, 7; 12. 1-12; chap. 22; 23. 1-7; 
Psa. 23-27. 

22. Review. 

23. Solomon, a Man of Affairs, i Kings 2. 36-46; 

3. 1-15; 4. 21-34; 5- 1-6, 12-18; 6. 37; 9. 15 to 
10. 13, 22. 

24. Jeroboam, a Champion Who Forsook the Lord. 

I Kings II. 26-40; 12. 1-33; 13. 33, 34. (Con- 
sider Rehoboam incidentally.) 



International Graded Course 1 69 

25. Elijah, the Defender of the Religion of the 

Lord, r Kings 17 and 18. 

26. Elijah Learning a Better Way. i Kings 19 

and 21. 17-29. 

THIRD quarter 

Memory Scripture for the Third Quarter: Psa. 2. 

27. Elisha, the Man Who Was Ambitious to Be 

Helpful. 2 Kings 2. 1-13; 4. 8-37. 

28. JoNADAB, A Man Who Dared to Stand Alone. 

1 Chron. 2. 55; 2 Kings 10. 15-28; Jer. 35. 

29. The Two Hebrew Kingdoms Among the Na- 

tions, The Books of Kings (and contempo- 
raneous history). 

30. Amos, the Herdsman Who Became a Preacher. 

Amos I. i; 7. 10-17; 6. i-ii. 

31. Hezekiah, the King Who Trusted God. 

2 Chron. 32. 1-23; Isa., chaps. 36 and 37. 

32. Isaiah, Prophet and Statesman. Isa. i. 1-20; 

chap. 6; 7. 1-9; 8. 21 to 9. 7; 39. 

33. Jeremiah, the Man Who Suffered to Save His 

City. Jer. i. 1-19; 39. 1-18; 40. 1-6; 42. 1-22; 

43- 1-7; 45- 1-5; 31- 31-34. 

34. Cyrus, the Liberator of the Jews. Isa. 44. 28; 

45. 1-4, 13; Ezra I. 1-8; 3. 1-7. 

35. Haggai, the Man Who Roused Zerubbabel and 

THE People to Build. Ezra 3. 6-13; 4. 1-5, 
11-24; 5- i; Hag. I. 1-8; 2. 1-4; Zech. 4. i-io; 
Ezra 5. 2-5. (Present Zechariah as co-laborer 
with Haggai.) 

36. Nehemiah, THE Reform Governor of Jerusa- 

lem. Neh, 7. 73c; chaps. 8-10. 

37. Judas, the Jewish Conqueror. The First Book 

of Maccabees. 

38. John, the Last Prophet of the Old Dispensa- 

tion. Matt. 3; Mark i. 1-12; Luke 3. 1-22; 
John I, 6-8; Matt. 11. 2-14. 

39. Review, 

fourth quarter 
Memory Scripture for the Foiirth Quarter : Luke 
I. 67-79. 

II. Religious Leaders in North America. 
Lessons 40-48 

40 to 48. Heroes of the Faith in America. (An 
optional list of names may be furnished for use 
by Canadian editors in the Dominion of Canada.) 



170 The Graded Sunday School 



40. John Robinson, the Pastor of the Pilgrims: 
Religious Independence. Dan., chap. 6. 

41. Roger Williams, the Champion of Religious 
Liberty. Gal. 3. 23 to 4. n. 

42. John Eliot, the Apostle to the Indians: Min- 
istering TO the Needy, Matt. 25. 31-46. 

43. William Penn, the Peaceful Nation-Builder: 
Establishing Justice and Peace. Psa. 37. 
i-ii. 

44. Samuel J. Mills, a Pioneer Missionary Hero. 
Acts, chaps. 13 and 14. 

45 to 48. (Four Sundays are set apart for a study of 
representative heroes in home and foreign mis- 
sions, selected by each religious body for their 
own use.) 

III. Temperance Leaders in North America. 

Lessons 49-52 

49. John B. Gough: Speaking for Temperance. 
I Cor. 9. 19-27. 

50. Neal Dow: Strengthening the Law. Neh. 13. 
15-22. 

51. Frances E. Willard: Uniting for God, Home, 
and Country. Judg. 5. 

52. Review. 

A selected number of Bible masterpieces are 
indicated for memorization during each year. 
These passages take the place of the usually dis- 
connected verses assigned with each of the les- 
sons in some of the earlier series. In addition to 
the memoriter work, the pupils are to be en- 
couraged to read selections from the Bible and 
other literature as collateral reading. 
Senior Course The Outline of the Senior course has at the time 
of this writing^ not yet been released for publi- 
cation. It is safe to say, however, that this will 
be as excellent in every particular as those for 
the preceding departments. The work of the 



Memory 
Work and 
Collateral 
Reading 



March, 1910. 



Transition 



International Graded Course I7I 

lesson committee through its subcommittees is 
being thoroughly done, without undue haste and 
with the pecuHar needs of each particular age 
always in mind. 

It was hardly to be expected that all the Sun- Gradual 
day schools of America would be prepared at 
once to introduce and successfully conduct this 
new graded course of instruction. For a short 
time, therefore, the lesson committee will con- 
tinue to offer in addition to the new course a 
separate lesson uniform for all grades as hereto- 
fore. This policy cannot, however, in the nature 
of the case, continue long in force. Viewed from 
every standpoint, it is to be hoped that the period 
of transition from the old system to the new will 
be brief. 



XVI 

GRADING THE LOCAL SCHOOL 

A Problem The problem of grading the local Sunday 

of Supervision school is really but a part of the larger problem 
of supervision, and might well be considered with 
other matters under this more general heading. 
Its importance in the plan and purpose of this 
volume, however, justifies a separate treatment. 
For this reason the discussion of grading is taken 
up at this point, and consideration of the subject 
of general supervision is reserved for a subse- 
quent chapter. 
Responsibility Responsibility in the matter of grading rests 
jointly upon all persons in any way officially con- 
nected with the management of the school. The 
school or church board or committee, the pastor, 
superintendent, officers, and teachers all share in 
the responsibility. It is not the affair of any one 
person excepting in so far as one individual may 
realize the need and feel the responsibility more 
than others. Usually this is the case, for in the 
Sunday school as elsewhere individual initiative 
is the starting point of progress and improvement. 
Opportunity; In cvcry Ungraded, partially or poorly graded 
Obligation school there is an opportunity for some one to 
render a real service to the church, the commu- 
nity, and the cause of religious education by sug- 
gesting the advantage of grading or of more thor- 
oughly grading the school. The person with the 
vision of a better order of things may be the 
pastor or superintendent, or it may be an obscure 
172 



Grading the Local School I73 

teacher in the Primary Department; it may be 
the individual who has been longest connected 
with the school, or it may be the person most re- 
cently elected to membership in the board or com- 
mittee. But, whoever it is, there comes with the 
vision an obligation, both personal and imperative, 
to do all that is possible to bring about the de- 
sired change and improvement. 

The suggestion to grade the Sunday school create 
having been made, it may be necessary as a pre- Sentiment 
liminary step to create intelligent sentiment in 
favor of the proposed change, both in the school 
itself and among those officially and otherwise 
concerned in its management. With the leaflet 
literature bearing on this subject now available, 
and the interest of denominational and other 
publishers and Sunday-school editors in graded 
courses, there should be no difficulty in making 
clear to everyone the desirability and necessity 
of **up-to-date" grading and organization in the 
school. 

A campaign of education in the matter will in Enlist 
any event be of great value. Even where no cooperation 
serious opposition is encountered it is desirable 
to acquaint the entire Sunday-school constituency 
with the purposes and plans of the school board 
or committee, and to enlist the intelligent coopera- 
tion of all concerned in the enterprise. "The 
good," says a learned philosopher of the present, 
*'is the activities in which all men participate so 
that the powers of each are called out, put to 
use, and reinforced."^ The cooperation of all 
the Sunday-school forces in the inauguration and 

* Dewey, Ethics, p. 316. 



Standard 



174 The Graded Sunday School 

conduct of a graded course of study is essential 
to its largest success. The curriculum which is 
merely superimposed upon the school by an ex- 
ternal authority, however commendable in itself, 
is likely to be a misfit if not an actual incumbrance 
to progress. Where pastor, superintendent, 
teachers, and board or committee work in har- 
mony the interest and cooperation of pupils and 
parents will not be difficult to secure. 

Define the Let the Standard of grading be clearly defined. 

One difficulty met with in discussions of the sub- 
ject in the past has been that the term "graded" 
has meant several different things. Sometimes 
the term has been applied to schools in which the 
children were grouped in classes according to 
size, age, or general ability, although the same 
lesson was taught to all classes. Sometimes 
schools divided into departments have assumed 
this title, although no careful consideration was 
given to differences in the age and mental attain- 
ments of the pupils. Again, the use of so-called 
graded helps, Primary, Junior, Intermediate, and 
Senior lesson quarterlies, all treating the same 
uniform lesson, has given rise to the usage of 
the term "graded school." Obviously it is essen- 
tial that there should be an understanding as to 
exactly what is meant by grading ; that the stand- 
ard of grading to be reached be clearly defined. 

Distinguishing In the light of what has been said in Part I of 
this manual concerning the educational principles 
which underlie graded religious instruction there 
can be no doubt as to the distinguishing feature 
or fact by which a truly graded school is marked 
off from those that are such only in name. A 



Feature 



Grading the Local School 



175 



Simultaneous 
Method 



school may be termed graded when the subject- 
matter or material of instruction used is suited 
to the age, capacity, and need of the pupils. This 
presupposes a grouping of the pupils into classes 
and departments. What these should be has been 
set forth concretely and in detail in Chapter VII. 

There are two methods by which the grading two Methods 
of a school may be accomplished. One of these 
may appropriately be termed the simultaneous or 
abrupt method ; the other is best described as the 
gradual method. Which of the two methods shall 
be employed in the actual grading of a given 
school must be determined by local circum- 
stances and conditions. 

The simultaneous method of grading aims to 
inaugurate a complete system of graded instruc- 
tion for the whole school on a given Sunday. It 
parts abruptly with the past, upsets the old and 
introduces the new order of things at a single 
stroke. Pupils are reclassified and enrolled, 
teachers reassigned, and a new course of instruc- 
tion entered upon, much as if an entirely new 
school were being opened and work started for 
the first time. 

The successful employment of this method Preparation 
recjuires that officers and teachers shall be thor- 
oughly prepared for the change in advance. 
Where the previous records of the school show 
the ages of the pupils and are in other respects 
sufficiently complete to make it possible to fore- 
cast the approximate number of pupils that will 
be assigned to each grade and department, the 
teachers should be selected and assigned to their 
places before the day for introducing the new sys- 



176 The Graded Sunday School 



Enrollment 



tern arrives. These assignments should be made 
sufficiently long in advance to give the teachers 
and department superintendents or supervisors 
time to thoroughly familiarize themselves with the 
work of their respective grades or departments. 
Concerning the matter of choosing the teachers 
suggestions will be found in the following chapter 
on "Supervising the Graded School." Together 
the officers and teachers of the school should work 
out their plans on paper before attempting to in- 
troduce them, in order that they may see the end 
from the beginning. 

Among the first essentials in undertaking to 
grade a school is the adoption of a suitable 
course of study. No school can go far astray in 
adopting the graded courses and text-books pre- 
pared by the denomination with which the school 
is affiliated. A better way, however, would be to 
appoint a competent committee which shall care- 
fully examine all of the better courses available 
and recommend for adoption the course that 
seems best suited to the needs of the school. The 
course or courses chosen should be placed in the 
hands of the teachers sufficiently early to enable 
them to familiarize themselves therewith prior to 
the inauguration of the new system. 

A new enrollment will in most cases be neces- 
sary. This also should, if possible, be made in 
advance of the date set for launching the new 
system. The enrollment blanks when filled out, 
in addition to giving the name and residence of 
the pupil, should contain such other items of in- 
formation as may be needed as a basis for assign- 
ing each pupil to his proper grade. A suitable 



Grading the Local School I77 

enrollment form would be the following, printed 
on a card of convenient size : 

ENROLLMENT FORM 

Date 

Full Name • 

Age at Nearest Birthday 

Grade or Year in Public School 

If not in Public School, give Grade and Age at Time of 

Leaving 

Have You been Baptized ? 

Haoe You Joined the Church? 

Name of Parent or Guardian 

Home Address 

When the day set apart for the introduction Assigning 
of the graded courses arrives, let the pupils be pup«s 
assigned to their new grade classes immediately 
upon their arrival at the school. If the new en- 
rollment has not yet been made, this will, after a 
brief opening service, constitute the first item on 
the program for the day. Let all pupils report 
for enrollment to the department to which their 
age and place in public-school work entitles them. 
Thus all pupils four and five years old will be 
escorted to the Beginners Department; those six, 
seven, and eight years old, or in the first three 
grades of the public school, will report to the 
Primary Department ; those nine, ten, eleven, and 
twelve, or those in Grades IV to VII, inclusive, 
in the public school, will report to the Junior 
Department; those thirteen to sixteen years of 
age, to the Intermediate Department; and those 



\yS The Graded Sunday School 



over sixteen, or those who have completed their 
High-school work, to the Senior Department. 
All persons twenty-one years of age and over 
should be enrolled in the Adult Department. 

Adjustments In the Beginners and Primary Departments it 
will be necessary to send the enrollment blanks 
home to be filled out by parent or guardian. This 
will cause some delay in making the final adjust- 
ments in grading, though sufficient information 
to enable the department superintendent to cor- 
rectly place the individual pupils can in most 
cases be gathered by oral questions. Preco- 
cious pupils and those who are backward, as 
shown by their public-school grades, should be 
treated in much the same way as in the public 
schools, being placed with the grade group in 
which the work best meets their needs, or in 
special classes as suggested in Chapter VII. 

In the Grades The assignment of pupils to departments and 
grades being accomplished, each teacher should 
at once take charge of the group assigned to his 
or her particular grade, prepared to engage the 
class in some profitable and interesting employ- 
ment. The character of the work on the first 
Sunday will differ somewhat in different grades 
and departments. Where the course of study is 
dated and begins, as most of the dated courses do, 
with the first Sunday in October, the assignments 
to the new grades should be made a week in 
advance. In that case a general talk about the 
work of the grade for the ensuing year will be 
an appropriate exercise for the day of enrollment. 
Some teachers will prefer to begin with a written 
exercise that shall engage the attention of the 



Grading the Local School 179 

pupils and that at the same time may serve as a 
test of their general bibHcal knowledge. Ele- 
mentary teachers as a rule will prefer a story or 
some general subject that will serve as a means 
of getting acquainted with the pupils. 

In all cases where the course of study calls for First Lesson 
definite work for each Sunday, and where the Assignment 
date of enrollment coincides with that fixed for 
the first lesson of the new course, the work ap- 
pointed for that day should be taken up, even if 
it must be in briefer form and with some feature 
or portion omitted. In grades where text-books 
are used these should be given out and their pur- 
pose and use explained. The assignment of work 
for the next Sunday should be preceded by an 
explanatory statement in which the teacher goes 
over with the class the work to be assigned, point- 
ing out the things of importance to be noted in 
study and thoroughly arousing the interest of 
the pupils in their first task. 

Some schools will not find it practicable to Gradual 
grade by the simultaneous method just described. Method 
In most places the changes involved in intro- 
ducing a thoroughly graded curriculum come 
about only gradually. One department or divi- 
sion at a time will be easier to handle. Often the 
first year's work of several departments may be 
introduced simultaneously, all the grades in the 
department being required to take the first year's 
work of the new course of study for the depart- 
ment. In such cases the grade groups may still be ' 
taught separately, the older pupils being per- 
mitted to advance more rapidly, to go more thor- 
oughly into the subject, or to carry additional 



l8o The Graded Sunday School 



In Higher 
Grades 



Begin at the 
Bottom 



The Primary 



supplemental work. This will enable them to 
complete the course for the department in a 
shorter time. 

In the Secondary and Advanced Divisions of 
the school especially the gradual method of grad- 
ing will work better than the simultaneous or 
abrupt method, since in the graded courses for 
these divisions the work of each grade really 
constitutes a prerequisite for the work of the 
next. The assignment of a pupil to a given 
grade within any given department above the 
Junior presupposes that the work of all preced- 
ing grades in the department, as well as the work 
of the preceding department or its equivalent, has 
already been completed. 

In the actual working out of the gradual 
method of grading the natural place to begin is 
at the bottom. Since in the Beginners Depart- 
ment the matter of sequence in the subject- 
material of the lessons for the fi|;st and second 
years' work is of secondary importance, and the 
first year's work is not an essential prerequisite 
to the second, it will be convenient to introduce 
both years' work simultaneously, separating the 
pupils into two groups, including those of four 
and those of five years respectively. If the de- 
partment is small, or if for any reason the whole 
department must be taught by one teacher, the 
first and second years' courses may alternate with 
each other. 

In the Primary Department all three years' 
work may as a rule be most advantageously 
begun at the same time. In properly graded 
primary material the work designated for six- 



Grading the Local School l8l 

year-old pupils in the first grade will be found ' 

too simple for seven and eight-year-old pupils. j 

At the same time, the work of the first grade is 

not so essential a prerequisite to the work of the j 

second, or the work of the second to that of the j 

third, as is the case in the more advanced depart- j 

ments. The simultaneous introduction of the j 

work for all three grades of the Primary will 

therefore be the better plan. i 

The Junior Department, comprising Grades junior I 

IV-VII, ages 9-12, forms a transition period D«P"tment ^ 

between Primary and High-school ages. There \ 

will be a marked difference between the kind of | 

work done in the Junior Department and that | 

done in the Primary. In the first year of the j 

Junior the simple story lessons of the Primary | 

give way to biographical lessons from the Old and | 

New Testaments, chronologically arranged. The \ 

stories of the first year (Grade IV) thus become 1 

a more essential prerequisite for the work of the i 

succeeding grades. In this department it will | 

be well to permit all the pupils in the department ] 

to start together, teaching each grade separately, j 

but allowing the older ones to advance more 1 

rapidly and cover the ground more thoroughly. ; 

In developing the work the peculiar needs of each 1 

group should be taken into account. \ 

In the Intermediate and Senior Departments intermediate I 
the same method may be observed. Where this »nd Senior 
method of gradual grading of the department ^'p**^"^'"** 

is followed it will be necessary as the grading j 

proceeds to make numerous adjustments between '{ 

different grades until all the grades of the course I 

are represented by one or more classes doing the i 



l82 The Graded Sunday School 



Advanced 
Division 



Gaps in 
Grading 



work of that particular grade in the specified 
way and time. 

In the Advanced Division of the school the 
courses of study chosen for Adult classes should 
be suited to the peculiar interests and needs 
of the class groups. When the time arrives 
when class groups regularly enter the Ad- 
vanced Division of the school from the Sec- 
ondary Division, after having come up through 
the grades of the Intermediate and Senior De- 
partments, provision should be made for such 
groups as desire to continue in more advanced 
lines of study. On the whole, it will require about 
as many years to thoroughly grade each depart- 
ment of the Secondary and Advanced Divisions 
as there are grades in the department. 

In most schools there will be gaps in the final 
grading caused by the fact that not all the ages 
are represented in the enrollment each year. This 
will not be serious and should in no wise disturb 
the system of grading as a whole. 



XVII 



SUPERVISING THE GRADED SCHOOL 

The Sunday school is not an independent or- under church 
ganization, but an integral part of a larger whole, Control 
the local church. It is the educational arm, the 
training department of the church. Independent 
and so-called "union" Sunday schools as a rule 
are short-lived and seldom vigorous or highly 
efficient. Denominational and church supervision 
makes for permanency, strength, and educational 
efficiency. The question is not whether the school 
shall or shall not be under the direction and 
guidance of the church; but rather what shall 
be the character and the method of the control 
which the church exercises. 

The relation of the Sunday school to the congregational 
church is determined in each denomination by 
the organic laws of the church itself. Within 
the statutory limitations thus imposed by the 
denomination the government of the school 
should be as democratic as possible. The church 
membership or congregation should have some 
voice in the affairs of the school, especially 
in matters pertaining to the providing of better 
facilities for carrying on the work of the school. 
Taking the whole membership of the church 
habitually into counsel is the best way of creating 
church and community sentiment in favor of pro- 
gressive methods and better facilities for work. 

The organic law of the denomination in most 
cases provides for an educational or Sunday- 
163 



Interest 



184 The Graded Sunday School 

Educational or school Committee, charged with the duty of in a 
Sunday-school general way looking after the special interests and 
ommttee j^ecds of the school. Sometimes this committee 
representing the church is an active factor in 
the supervision of the school. This it will be 
in every case where care is taken that men or 
women actively interested in education and in the 
religious training of children and young people 
are placed on the committee. 
Sunday-school ^he more immediate control of Sunday-school 
Board interests is usually vested in a Sunday-school 

board, consisting of the officers and teachers of 
the school, together with the pastor and educa- 
tional or Sunday-school committee and such other 
persons as the laws of the church or denomina- 
tion may designate. The duties and functions 
of this board in relation to the Sunday school 
are much the same as those of a city or town 
board of education to the public schools of the 
community. The manifest tendency in public- 
school administration is to make the board of 
education small, in the interests of general effi- 
ciency. A large board usually proves unwieldy 
and the greater division of responsibility has not 
proven advantageous. The same is true of a 
large Sunday-school board. There is grave 
danger that perfunctory or groove methods of 
attending to the affairs of the school will obtain, 
especially when the board, as is usually the case, 
is a self -perpetuating body. In most cases a small 
committee of from seven to thirteen members, 
vested with full authority, subject only to the 
congregational meeting or the official board of 
the church, will do better work. 



Supervising the Graded School 185 

The chief executive officer of the school is the The 
superintendent. His work usually is that of an f supervtrot"* 
executive director of the school simply; rarely ©f instructioa 
is he at the same time a supervisor of instruction. 
The difference between the two is this : A super- 
visor of instruction pays attention to the method 
and content of instruction given in the several 
grades and departments. He observes the class 
work of his teachers, criticises their methods, 
and offers suggestions. He examines the work 
of the pupils, frequently tests a class, receives 
regular reports and lesson plans from his 
teachers. He is an educational director in 
the real sense of the term. But this has not 
been the work of many Sunday-school superin- 
tendents. Ordinarily the superintendent merely 
presides at the sessions of the school, directs its 
programs, sees that no class is without a teacher, 
makes the opening and closing remarks, and 
keeps the machinery of the school oiled and in 
running order. The ideal superintendent will do 
both. The superintendent of a graded school 
must do both unless the work of supervision be 
made the duty of a special officer appointed for 
that work exclusively, with some such title as 
Educational Director or Supervisor of Instruc- 
tion. The work of this special officer, if such be 
appointed, will be fully as important as that of 
the superintendent. 

The qualifications essential in a superintendent. Qualifications 
who is at the same time the supervising head of 
a graded Sunday school, are therefore educational 
as well as executive. Not that the superintendent 
of the school himself shall be a better teacher of 



l86 The Graded Sunday School 

Beginners or Juniors than the teachers in these 
respective departments; he should, however, be 
experienced in teaching in some one or more de- 
partments or in public-school work. Added to 
this teaching experience he should have an intelli- 
gent interest in and appreciation of educational 
matters, both religious and secular. He should 
be familiar with approved methods of teaching 
and of school administration. He should be 
competent to judge of the relative merits of the 
various courses and text-books of religious in- 
struction available. He should know intimately 
the course pursued in his school and be prepared 
to suggest necessary modifications and adjust- 
ments to meet local needs. He should be familiar 
with the more important principles of religious 
pedagogy and be able to wisely direct the read- 
ing of his teachers in their effort toward self- 
improvement. Where these qualifications are 
present executive ability will seldom be lacking. 
May Be One There is uo intrinsic reason, therefore, why the 

educational director in a graded Sunday school 
should not at the same time be the executive 
superintendent, though in view of the fact that a 
majority of superintendents at present lack the 
educational qualifications just enumerated there 
are many reasons why the superintendent of the 
traditional type should not be the educational 
director for the school. If the educational direc- 
tor is also the superintendent, and the duties of 
the twofold office are more than one person can 
well discharge, the details of the executive work, 
including that of presiding over the sessions of 
the school, may well be intrusted to an assistant. 



Person 



Supervising the Graded School 1 87 

The superintendent of the school being also Powers and 
the educational director, and qualified to be this ^"*^*^ 
in fact as well as in name, should be given large 
power, and then held responsible accordingly. He 
should have the right, in consultation with the 
pastor, to nominate, if not actually appoint, his 
division superintendents and his teachers. He 
should prepare the estimate of the annual budget 
for the school and submit this, together with his 
recommendations, to the board or committee for 
its approval. He should, in consultation with his 
division and department superintendents, recom- 
mend text-books, courses of study, and neces- 
sary articles of equipment. As educational direc- 
tor he will further see that the course of study is 
carried out properly, frequently testing results 
of the work. He will keep the pastor fully ad- 
vised concerning the affairs of the school in its 
various departments, and will hold himself per- 
sonally responsible for the atmosphere and spir- 
itual life of the school. 

Next to the pastor the superintendent of the Appointment; 
Sunday school is the most important ofificer in compensation 
the church. His work should be regarded in the 
same professional light as that of the director of 
music, only, if anything, more highly. Great care 
should consequently be exercised in his selection, 
and his services should not, as a rule, be expected 
without compensation. Ordinarily the superin- 
tendent should be nominated by the school or 
educational committee in consultation with the 
pastor, and elected by the same board or other 
local authority which officially extends the call 
to the pastor and chooses other salaried officers 



l88 The Graded Sunday School 



Division 

Superintend- 
ents 



Department 
Superintend- 
ents 



of the church. No method of appointment short 
of this Hnks the office closely enough with the 
center of church control or comports with its 
inherent dignity. 

What has been said concerning the essential 
qualifications of the school superintendent ap- 
plies in a narrower sense also to the superintend- 
ents of the separate divisions of the school. In 
large schools, with an enrollment of more than 
five hundred, each of the main divisions, Ele- 
mentary, Secondary, and Advanced, should be in 
charge of a division superintendent. In medium- 
sized schools, with an enrollment of from three 
to five hundred, the superintendent of the school 
may well be the superintendent of either the 
Secondary or Advanced Division, with a super- 
intendent for each of the other divisions. In 
small schools, with an enrollment under three 
hundred, both Secondary and Advanced Divi- 
sions may be under his immediate charge, with a 
special superintendent only for the Elementary 
Division of the school. 

In the Elementary Division, including the Be- 
ginners, Primary, and Junior Departments, where 
a more careful grading has been longest in vogue, 
each department has usually been in charge of 
its own superintendent. These department super- 
intendents are themselves teachers. Under the 
old system of lessons, which provided only one 
lesson for the department and school, the super- 
intendent often taught the lesson for the day to 
the entire department. A number of teaching 
assistants attended to various matters of detail 
and took charge of smaller groups during the 



Supervising the Graded School 1 89 

period devoted to manual or other special work. ' 
Under the graded system, which provides sepa- 
rate and distinct work for each grade group, the ! 
department superintendent teaches one of the 
grade groups and at the same time supervises the | 
work of the other teachers in the department. ! 

The method of securing teachers has much to selecting j 

do with their efficiency. Well-meaning and ear- Teacher* j 

nest volunteers are sometimes more willing than i 

capable. But the fact that the best qualified per- \ 

sons often do not volunteer is no proof that their ! 

services cannot be secured. Teachers should be | 

"hand-picked"; the importance and professional j 

character of their office demands this. They '; 

should be chosen for particular grades, not just as \ 

teachers in general. A good Primary teacher j 

might fail utterly with adults, and vice versa. The \ 

educational qualifications demanded will be dif- i 

ferent for teachers of different grades. In the j 

selection of teachers for the grade groups within | 

a department the superintendent of the depart- 'I 

ment should be consulted. As a matter of gen- | 
eral principle it would be better to have fewer 
teachers and larger classes than smaller classes 

with poor teaching. ) 

The appointment of teachers should be for a Term of ■ 

limited period, preferably one year. This does office ] 

not mean that there should necessarily be fre- 1 

quent changes in the teaching force. It does | 

mean, however, that a way should be opened for | 

improving the personnel of the force by sub- i 

stitution as well as by addition, and that this | 

should be possible with the minimum amount of j 

friction in the regular order of things. Except in ] 



190 The Graded Sunday School 



Supervising 
the Work of 
Teachers 



Lesson Plans; 
Reports 



the interest of greater efficiency and better serv- 
ice changes in the teaching force should be as 
few as possible. Competent and successful Sun- 
day-school teachers should not despise their rare 
gift or bury it in a napkin. They should rather 
prize it above personal ease, magnify their office, 
and regard their work as a life interest and call- 
ing. 

The duty of supervising the work of grade 
teachers within a division or department will rest 
jointly upon the superintendent of the division 
and the supervising teacher of the department. 
Faithfulness and professional skill exercised here 
will not fail to yield rich returns. Many teachers 
fail, sometimes without realizing that they do fail, 
largely because they are left completely to them- 
selves in their work. The best teachers will wel- 
come suggestions, kindly criticisms, and occa- 
sional assistance from one more experienced and 
better trained than themselves. Others will need 
the help they may not so earnestly covet. The 
supervising teacher or superintendent of a de- 
partment must know intimately the work of each 
teacher in the department. The teachers, in turn, 
must have confidence in the superintendent. The 
latter will hold frequent and regular conferences 
with the teachers of the department, in which all 
participate, each profiting by the experiences and 
suggestions of the others. Similar conferences for 
the teachers of an entire division may be held, 
though less frequently, under the direction of the 
division superintendent. 

At these department conferences methods of 
work will be considered, lesson plans presented 



Supervising the Graded School I9I ^ 

by the several teachers will be criticised and dis- j 

cussed. A lesson plan is an advance outline of a | 

lesson, covering all points to be taken up and the ] 

order and method of their presentation. Such i 

outlines are of value both in the making, in clari- i 

fying the teacher's thought and purpose, and also j 

when completed as a guide to the teacher in her i 

presentation of the lesson. Similarly the presenta- j 

tion of reports by the individual teachers at these s 

department conferences and at regular intervals i 

in writing will be of great value. Such reports i 

should indicate the results achieved and difficul- I 

ties encountered. The written reports should j 

occasionally be accompanied by specimens of the ; 

pupils' work for permanent preservation or tem- ] 

porary reference. Occasionally, also, such speci- \ 

mens from all the grades in the division should be 1 

placed on exhibit, and the parents and friends ] 

of the pupils be invited to visit the school and \ 

inspect the work. ] 

The modification of the course of study and Modifying 
its adjustment to meet local conditions belong to 
the work of supervision. Under ideal conditions 
each school or group of adjoining schools would 
make its own course. Some will be able to do 
this, and should do so, if they can improve in 
any particular upon courses available for more 
general use. Most of the courses of graded Sun- 
day-school instruction now obtainable are the out- 
growth of actual experience on the part of com- 
petent teachers. The same is true of the text- 
books oflFered for graded instruction. Nevertheless 
no curriculum of instruction can fit all schools in 
everv detail. In almost everv school the course 



Course of 
Study 



\()2 The Graded Sunday School 

for any given department will have to be adjusted 
in some details, being sometimes amplified be- 
cause special facilities for work are available, 
sometimes being curtailed because of the lack of 
facilities, and for other reasons. 
Latitude for The modification of the curriculum, when such 

Individual jg necessary, should be undertaken jointly by 
the teachers of the department and division, in 
consultation with and under the guidance of all 
the supervising officers of the school, including 
the school superintendent. A certain latitude 
should be allowed competent teachers within 
which to exercise their own discretion in matters 
such as the relative allotment of time to certain 
features of the work, and in the use of op- 
tional supplemental materials. The individuality 
of the teacher should also find expression in the 
method of teaching. 



XVIII 

SUPERVISING THE GRADED SCHOOL 
(CONTINUED) 

There are matters other than those treated in Further 
the preceding chapter that belong to the general Questions in 
problem of supervision. Among the most im- 
portant of these are included the following: 
Examinations and tests ; promotion requirements ; 
certificates and diplomas ; school, department, and 
class records; the professional preparation of 
teachers, and their improvement in service. The 
last of these will be considered separately in 
Chapter XIX; the others may be here discussed 
more briefly and in the order mentioned. 

Concerning examinations and tests it is per- Tests and 
tinent to inquire as to their purpose and value. 
What should be their character and frequency? 
By whom should they be prepared? and how and 
by whom should they be conducted? The desir- 
ability of examinations of some kind in a graded 
Sunday school is here taken for granted. "Once 
let it be clearly recognized that the Sunday school 
exists to give real instruction in the Bible, and 
to secure real study and learning on the part of 
the pupil, and it will be seen that, so far from 
there being less reason for examinations in Sun- 
day schools than in other schools, there is, in 
fact, more reason for them."* 



Examinations 



* Burton and Mathews, Principles and Ideals for the Sunday 
School, p. 158. 

In the same discussion the author continues: "But it will be 
objected that the examination is precisely that feature of the public 

193 



194 ^^ Graded Sunday School 



Value to Pupil An examination, properly conducted, will prove 
of value primarily to the pupil himself, (i) It 
will help the pupil to organize his own knowledge 
and to gather up into one connected whole that 
which before was more or less disconnected and 
fragmentary in his mind. (2) It will tend to 
stimulate the pupil to do better and more thor- 
ough work. The fact that he is to pass an 
examination upon his work at the end of a given 
period or course will lead him almost uncon- 
sciously to prepare more carefully each succes- 
sive lesson from week to week. (3) It will reveal 
to the pupil his own strength or weakness as 
judged by his ability to recognize and master the 
essential points in his study. (4) It will furnish 
a valuable supplemental training for the pupil in 
the art of concise and clear expression. 

The value of the examination to the teacher 
will be quite incidental. As a criterion of the 
fitness of a pupil for promotion it will in most 
cases be unnecessary. Occasionally, however, as 
when the grade group is too large to permit of 
frequent recitation on the part of each pupil, or 
in the case of exceptionally reticent pupils, the 
written test will reveal to the teacher quite unsus- 



Value to the 
Teacher 



schools which is most repugnant to the pupil, and that the intro- 
duction of the system into the Sunday school will at once create a 
dislike for the Sunday school which will drive pupils away from it. 
Undoubtedly, a system of examinations might he introduced into 
a Sunday school in such a way as to antagonize ani repel some 
pupils, and even to lead some to leave the school. But we venture 
the assertion — and we speak from experience — that, with a reason- 
able degree of discretion and skill, very few pupils, if any, need be lost, 
and many will be gained. The best pupils will rejoice in the change, 
because of the consequent improvement in the character of the work; 
many pupils will be held in the school, as they were before, by 
parental authority or other influence unaffected by the systern of 
instruction; and wisdom in the manner of introducing the examina- 
tions will prevent the driving away of even those who would not 
be held by these other influences." — Ibid., pp. isSf. 



Supervising the Graded School I95 

pected ability, or, on the contrary, the need of 
greater personal attention or assistance on the 
part of individual pupils. 

What has just been said refers more especially Frequency 
to written examinations occurring more or less 
regularly at specified intervals. The intervals 
between such examinations should not be too long 
' — perhaps never longer than three months. Fre- 
quent written tests coming unannounced between 
the stated term or quarterly examinations will 
prove advantageous both in accustoming the 
pupils to tests of this kind and in cultivating right 
habits of study. 

Much obviously depends upon the character character and 
of the examination and the way in which it is **e*^od 
given. Aimless questioning is worse than none, 
while the questioning that is a test of memory 
merely is little better. The questions should be 
so framed as to constitute a real review of the 
main features of the work covered. The condi- 
tions should be such as to insure the greatest pos- 
sible degree of freedom on the part of the pupils. 
Both the fear of failure and the temptation to 
deceive should be as far as possible eliminated.^ 
Occasionally sets of questions may very properly 
be placed in the hands of the pupils on one Sun- 
day, to be returned, with answers, a week later, 
the use of the Bible and other accessible sources 
of information being in such cases permitted, 
personal help only being excluded. 

Ordinarily the teacher is the proper person to By whom 
prepare the questions and conduct the examina- conducted 
tion. Granted that he is competent to teach, and 

* Compare Prince, School Administration, pp. i6o£F. 



196 The Graded Sunday School 



Promotions 



The Basis of 
Merit 



thoroughly understands the work of his grade 
both in relation to what precedes and what im- 
mediately follows, the teacher will use to best 
advantage this valuable means of supplementing 
his regular classroom instruction. The tabu- 
lated records of stated regular examinations, 
together with the list of questions in each case, 
should be accessible at all times to the department 
superintendent and other supervising officers of 
the school. Sometimes it may be desirable for 
the department superintendent to examine the 
several grades of his department independently. 
Some schools, like the Hyde Park Baptist school 
at Chicago, appoint a regular examiner as one of 
the supervising officers of the school. 

Written examinations should never in the Sun- 
day school form the sole basis of promotion. 
Indeed, the purpose of such examinations, as 
has already been pointed out, should be quite 
other than that of furnishing the teacher with a 
convenient criterion or measuring rod of class 
progress. In Chapters VII and XVI it was sug- 
gested that in grading the school the original as- 
signment to grades be made on the basis of age 
and rank in the public school. As rapidly as pos- 
sible, however, the grading and classification of 
the Sunday school should.be so adjusted that 
promotions may be made on the twofold basis 
of merit and religious maturity. 

By merit is meant the satisfactory completion 
of the work required of the pupil by the course 
of study for a given grade. The merit obtainable 
by the individual pupil will always be a relative 
and not an absolute quantity. It is his position 



Supervising the Graded School I97 

in relation to the average of his class or ; 

grade. This will be determined by the teacher j 

from his record of class v^ork, including gen- ] 

eral interest and participation in the recitation J 

or other lesson exercise, w^eekly written work '{ 

other than examinations, manual work where I 

such is required, and examinations. In view j 

of the fact that the graded Sunday school \ 

is an educational institution with an educational ^ 

purpose and employing educational methods, the ; 

actual satisfactory accomplishment of the work \ 

outlined for a given grade must constitute one of ; 

the major elements in the requirements for pro- ! 

motion. \ 

Another element of perhaps equal importance Basis of j 
is that of the degree of religious maturity at- «*"^|?"' 

tained by the pupil. In religious training, even i 

more than in general culture and secular educa- 1 

tion, the home of the pupil plays a determining i 

part. Home and other week-day influences will ] 

invariably either strengthen or counteract and I 

weaken the impressions made and purposes } 

formed in the Sunday school. Favored by home | 

influences, some pupils will develop more rapidly j 

than others in the religious life. This fact should ; 

be taken into account in promotion. When there ; 
is a question in the case of any individual pupil, 

the teacher should refer the case, with his recom- \ 

mendation, to the department or division superin- j 

tendent. Ultimate authority in promotion or | 

other changes in grading and the placing of . 

pupils should rest with the general superintendent > 

or educational supervisor. I 

The work accomplished by a pupil in a grade i 



198 The Graded Sunday School 



Certificates or department should be appropriately recog- 
and.Dipiomas nized. Certificates and diplomas, in order to 
mean as much as they should, should not be 
given too frequently. The following gradation 
of recognition forms will be found satisfactory: 
(i) In promoting pupils from one grade to the 
next within a department, issue a simple promo- 
tion card. (2) In promoting pupils from one 
department to the next, issue an attractive cer- 
tificate. (3) Upon the completion of the work of 
either the Elementary or Secondary Division of 
the school, issue a suitable diploma. 

Upon the satisfactory completion of the re- 
quirements of a given grade, a neat, plain card 
certifying the fact, and perhaps indicating some- 
thing as to the quality of the work done, may be 
given. A suitable form would be the following: 

Junior Department Grade 7 

PROMOTION CARD 

Morrow Memorial Sunday School 
Maplewood, New Jersey 

Sept. 20. 1910 

Having satisfactorily completed the work of the Sixth Grade (Third 
Year Junior), is hereby promoted to the 



Promotion 
Cards 



of this Sunday School 



SEVENTH GRADE 
(Fourth Year Junior) 

Signed 



Certificates of 
Promotion 



Teacher. 

Dept. Supt. 

To complete the work of a department com- 
prising several grades is a greater task than to 
complete the course of a single grade within the 
department. The recognition form given to the 
pupil promoted from one department to the next 



Supervising the Graded School I99 

should be correspondingly more attractive. It I 

should not be so elaborate as a diploma, but j 

should be a certificate larger, more artistic, and j 
more durable than the promotion card. This 

certificate should be signed by the teacher, the j 

department superintendent, and countersigned by I 

the division or general superintendent or educa- i 
tional supervisor and the pastor. 

DEPARTMENTAL 

CERTinCATE OF PROMOTION \ 

Morrow Memorial Sunday School *■ 

Maplewood, New Jersey, Sept. 20, 1910 ) 
This is to certify that 

George ^ifForti j 

has Mtithictorily completed the Course of Study prescribed for the Primary i 

Department (Grades I-III) of this Sunday School, and is hereby promoted to the j 

first year of the I 
JUNIOR DEPARTMENT 

(Grades IV-VII) ' 

of this Sunday School \ 
G>unteru8ned (Seal) Signed 

Gen. Supt , Teacher 3rd Grade. ■ 

, Pastor. , Primary Supt. ; 

The awarding of a diploma in the Sunday Diplomas j 

school should mark the completion by the pupil ] 

of a specified larger section of the course of reli- : 

gious instruction which the school offers. Grad- i 

nation from the Elementary Division in a sense i 

marks an epoch in the religious development and < 

training of the pupil, and this affords a suitable i 
opportunity for the special recognition which the 

awarding of the first diploma implies. This i 

diploma will then indicate the satisfactory com- i 

pletion of the work of the Elementary grades ] 

(I-VII), including Beginners, Primary, and \ 
Junior Departments, and the promotion of pupils 
from the Elementary to the Secondary Division 



200 The Graded Sunday School 

of the school. A similar opportunity for special 
recognition comes with the completion of the 
work of the Secondary Division, either in its 
Teacher-Training (Normal) or Senior Depart- 
ment. The diploma will in each case indicate 
which of the two courses, Intermediate and 
Teacher-Training, or Intermediate and Senior, 
has been completed. In the Advanced Division 
of the school certificates only should be used. 
These should be issued only in the Graduate De- 
partment of this division, and should certify in 
each case the completion of a specific course 
within the department. The diploma, when 
issued, should bear the signatures of the super- 
intendent of the school and the division, the 
pastor, and either the chairman of the educational 
committee or the president of the Board of 
Church Trustees. 

ELEMENTARY DIVISION 

MORROW MEMORIAL SUNDAY SCHOOL 
MAPLEWOOD. NEW JERSEY 

To «11 who may read thii Tettimonial, 
Greeting : 
Be it known that ]^au{ iFl£ntniin0 has with commendable diligence and 
proficiency completed the Courie of Religiou* Instruction in the Eiemeatary 
Division (Grades l-VII) of this Sunday School. 

In token whereof he is awarded this 

DIPLOMA 

Dated 

Pastor. 

Supt. Elem. Dir. 
Chairman Ed'nal Com. 

, Pres. Bd. of Trustees. S. S. Supt. 

Reports and Good Suuday-school supervision implies on 

Records the part of the teacher and superintendent the 



Supervising the Graded School 20I 

i 

careful and accurate keeping of certain records ] 

and the marking of certain regular reports. The j 

multiplication of reports and records is not neces- | 

sarily an indication of good supervision, but the -j 

entire absence of such certainly betrays super- j 

visory inefficiency. j 

It v^ill be convenient to begin with the record Marking j 

of the pupils' work kept by the teacher. Any P"p»is ] 

system of marking that may be adopted by the | 

teacher should be for purposes of record and for ] 

the teacher's own information only. They should | 

not be made known to the pupils. To quote an ] 

eminent authority on school administration : i 

The teacher's highest aim should be to awaken ] 

the interest of his pupils and secure from them the | 

most cordial and earnest cooperation. For the fur- : 

therance of this end there are several incentives much i 

higher than the desire for high marks or the ambition j 

to excel the accomplishment of some one else. If j 

the lower incentives are given place, the higher ones | 

are crowded out and their influence is lost.^ } 

If this be true in public-school administration, j 

how much more true will it be in religious j 

training! \ 

In communicating with the parents, which, of Reports to j 

course, should be done more or less regularly, the Parents j 

purpose should be to give such information as I 

may enable the parents to aid the teacher in ^ 

furthering the spiritual and moral development j 

of the pupil. Any reports sent home touching the i 

class work of the pupil should be qualitative j 

rather than quantitative. The use of the simple | 
letter system, E, G, F, and P, signifying Excellent, 



1 Button and Snedden, Administration of Public Education in 
the United States, pp. 3o8f. 



8 

o 

w 

o 

03 



<: 

Ah 

w 

Q 
O 

12: < 
t4 o 



(4 a 



To Parents: Please ex- 
amine this report with care. 
Sign your name in this col- 
umn and return the card to 
the teacher. 




































^usanJodaQ 












^ussqv saraix 












XpjBX sauiTX 












uoi:^nqu;uoo 












901AJ9S qoJtiqo 












90U9J9A3-a 












30IAJ9S IBUOSJ9<J 










AtldBjS090 












JIJO^l 9Ai;onj:js 
-uoQ JO ienuT3-ff^ 
























3lJOAi ^JOnJ9K 












Xjo;s uoss9q 












w 

o 

3» 


• 

i 


•— > 


§ 

1 

< 


p. 

'3 


>" 

< 

1 



202 



Supervising the Graded School 203 



Good, Fair, and Poor, respectively, has proved ) 

satisfactory. A simple form for a quarterly ] 

(tri-monthly) report card for the Junior Depart- \ 

ment appears on the opposite page. j 

The subjects reported would, of course, vary | 

somewhat with each department. ] 

Such records as the class teacher keeps for his ciass Records, \ 
own information should be kept in concise, in- Reports ^ 

telligible form, conveniently accessible for the \ 

department and general superintendent. At ] 

stated intervals, perhaps quarterly, such records j 

should be summarized in the form of a report to 
the department superintendent. i 

The department superintendent, in turn, will Department j 

condense and combine the reports received from Records | 

the separate grade teachers in his report to the ; 

general superintendent of the school. All records, i 

including those of the class and department, I 

should be kept by the card system. i 

The general records for the school will be school j 

compiled, under the direction of the superintend- Records j 

ent, by the secretary. The superintendent, how- e^t^s""**" " 1 
ever, rather than the secretary, should devise Responsibility j 
the forms. As executive and supervising officer 
of the school he should plan and systematize i 

the records and reports for the entire school j 

in its various departments in such a way as to ■; 

have at hand constantly adequate data for the 1 

intelligent supervision of instruction as well as j 

for the executive management of the school. It is ] 

not within the scope of the present discussion to i 

indicate what Sunday-school records should in- 
clude in detail. Many valuable suggestions will ■ 
be found in text-books on School Administra- 



204 The Graded Sunday School 

tion indicated in the Bibliography, and especially 
also in the valuable treatise on School Reports 
and School Efficiency by Professors Snedden 
and Allen. In general it may be said that few if 
any of the systems of record books now appear- 
ing for the Sunday school are suited to the needs 
of the graded school. 



XIX 

PROFESSIONAL PREPARATION AND AD- 
VANCEMENT OF TEACHERS 

What is the present situation with regard to The 
teacher-training in the Sunday school? Speak- situation 
ing advisedly and with due regard to the prog- 
ress making in many quarters, it must be admitted 
that conditions, on the whole, are deplorable in 
the extreme. The present total enrollment for 
the Sunday schools of the United States is ap- 
proximately 14,000,000, with 1,400,000 officers 
and teachers. The teacher -training statistics as Teacher- 
given in the Louisville Convention Report indi- Training 
cated the total number of graduates from teacher- ****®* " 
training courses up to 1908 to be less than 
10,000. Granting that twice as many more 
teachers now in service have had some sort of pro., 
fessional training outside of the Sunday school, ot 
in classes not reported to the International Sun- 
day school authorities, and making further allow- 
ance for the number of persons who have received 
teacher-training diplomas since this report was 
made, we still have a total of less than 40,000 
persons who have completed any sort of a course 
in teacher-training. This is less than three per 
cent of the total number of teachers and officers 
now at work in the Sunday school, and less than 
five per cent of the actual teaching force. 

It is but fair to inquire further into the char- poor 
acter of the training which this small percentage Text-Book* 
of Sunday-school teachers has actually received. 
205 



206 The Graded Sunday School 



Dr. McFar- 

land's 

Criticism 



This is not difficult to determine for those repre- 
sented in the international statistics. More than 
ninety-five per cent of these have received the 
diploma for the so-called First Standard Course, 
covering a total of only fifty lessons on Bible 
study, child study, and Sunday-school organiza- 
tion and management combined. But even this 
absurd quantitative minimum of work required 
by the international standard for the first teacher- 
training course is not the worst aspect of the 
situation. Many of the text-books for this 
course, and especially several of those used quite 
extensively, are a delusion and a snare, utterly 
inadequate in subject-matter, unpedagogical in 
arrangement and method, and misleading and 
inaccurate in statements of fact. To quote Dr. 
McFarland on this point i^ 

The present situation in this matter is chaotic. . . ;, 
The conditions have been particularly favorable for 
the exploitation of sham and shoddy. In the first 
place, there has been much popular but uninstructed 
interest in this subject on the part of many who, not 
being capable of discriminating judgment, have been 
an easy mark for educational quackery. There are 
thousands of Sunday-school teachers, possessed by 
a sincere zeal to do better work, but not understanding 
what kind of training they need, who have been 
misled by the advertisements of various teacher-training 
nostrums which, like certain patent medicines, promise 
much but accomplish little, material which should be 
ruled out under intellectual and moral Pure Food 
and Drug laws. 

As the character of the average books devoted to 
this interest indicates, there is as yet no standard 
established in this department of instruction and 
training. The consciousness of this fact led to the 



» Dr. J T. McFarland, Editor Sunday School Publications. Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church, in an address delivered before the Sunday 
School Editorial Association in July, 1909, 



Professional Preparation of Teachers 207 



calling of what is known as the Philadelphia Conference, 
January 7, 8, 1908. At that conference between the 
representatives of the denominations and the authori- 
ties of the International Association an attempt was 
made to establish a standard; and in a sense and to a 
certain degree this was done. By the agreement 
reached at that conference we now know that any 
approved course in teacher-training must include not 
less than fifty lesson periods, of which at least 
twenty must be devoted to the study of the Bible, 
and at least seven each to the study of the pupil, the 
teacher, and the Sunday school. But hopeful as this 
was as a beginning, it was only a beginning — it did 
not really set up a standard. An educational standard 
is not a matter of arithmetic, not a question of numer- 
cal proportion, but of quality and substance. It must 
not deal simply with dimensions but with weight. A 
cubic foot of basswood measures the same as a cubic 
foot of mahogany, but there is a great difference 
between them in the matter of specific gravity and 
commercial value. And this is just the defect of the 
so-called standard adopted by the Philadelphia Con- 
ference. It did not distinguish between basswood 
and mahogany. To say that a teacher-training course 
shall include four sections, and that a certain number 
of lessons must be devoted to each section, is a system 
of linear or, at best, cubic measurement; it does not 
attempt to measure the substance and weight and 
quality of the material. What is needed is an ad 
valorem standard. 

It is true that the Philadelphia Conference re- 
ferred to by Dr. McFarland adopted a standard 
also for a second or advanced course in teacher- 
training, the minimum requirements for which 
were double those for the first standard course. 
The -exact wording of the conference resolution 
bearing on this course is as follows : 

There shall be an advanced course including not 
less than one hundred (100) lesson periods, with a 
minimum of forty (40) lesson periods devoted to the 
study of the Bible, and not less than ten (10) each to a 
study of the pupil, the teacher, the Sunday school, 
church history, and missions. Three years' time shall 



Second 

Standard 

Course 



2o8 The Graded Sunday School 

be devoted to this course, and in no case shall a diploma 
be granted for its completion in less than two years. 

Denomina- Several of the leading denominations have 

tionai Courses undertaken the preparation of a course in teacher- 
training meeting the requirements of this higher 
standard, and in several instances going far be- 
yond its minimum. Thus, for example, the 
advanced teacher-training course for the Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church, with which the writer hap- 
pens to be most familiar, provides for sixty-two 
lessons on pedagogy and child study, forty-six 
lessons on the organization and management of 
the Sunday school, and a creditable course of 
fifty-two lessons in Old and New Testament 
introduction. The requirements of the Baptist, 
Presbyterian, and several other denominations are 
correspondingly high. Correspondence courses 
offering instruction in a variety of subjects, in- 
cluding those specified in the second standard 
course requirements, are also being offered for 
the benefit especially of teachers who are not so 
situated as to be able to join a teacher-training 
class. Advanced and correspondence courses, 
however, have thus far had a very limited circu- 
lation, and are hardly to be considered in an 
estimate of the present situation, except as they 
indicate a purpose on the part of the leading 
denominations and the International Association 
to improve as rapidly as possible the present 
deplorable conditions. It is doubtful if one Sun- 
day-school teacher in ten to-day could pass a fair 
test in a creditable course in Bible history or New 
Testament introduction, while most of the actual 
teaching done in the Sunday school, "judged on 



Professional Preparation of Teachers 209 

the basis of pedagogical method, is," as a promi- 
nent and well-informed educator recently ex- 
pressed it, ''simply abominable, and would not 
be rated five on the scale of one hundred in the 
training department of any reputable normal 
school or teachers' college." 

Fortunately, mankind is incurably religious, Development, 
and the religious life of boys and girls continues Notwith- 
to develop notwithstanding the handicap placed ^ ^" ^^^ 
upon it by poor teaching in the Sunday school. 
The great body of Sunday-school teachers, more- 
over, is an earnest, consecrated company, full of 
faith and of devotion to their task; and faith is 
contagious and example is stronger than precept. 
What might not the harvest be in the Sunday- 
school field if correct teaching were to supple- 
ment noble example ; if knowledge were added to 
zeal and skill to earnest endeavor ! 

The standards of grading and supervision set Factors in 
forth in the preceding chapters presuppose some Teacher- 
more adequate preparation and training on the ^^ °*°^ 
part of Sunday-school teachers. Such training 
of necessity -involves three factors, namely: 
(i) Knowledge of the subject-matter of religious 
instruction; (2) Knowledge of pedagogical prin- 
ciples and methods; (3) Actual practice in teach- 
ing gained either outside the Sunday school or 
by means of a carefully supervised apprenticeship 
as assistant teacher in a given department. 

It does not fall within the intended scope of what is 
this discussion to outline in detail what should be deeded 
included in a course of study for teacher-training 
classes — certainly as much or more than the best 
of the courses at present available offers. What 



210 



The Graded Sunday School 



Educational 

Leadership 

Demanded 



Two Aspects 
of the 
Problem 



is needed is not so much more or other teacher- 
training text-books, so called; but professional 
requirements based upon a study of recognized 
standard text-books on Bible history knd geog- 
raphy; Old and New Testament introduction; 
the Hfe of Christ; church, missionary, and reli- 
gious history ; on child study, principles of teach- 
ing, general method, and school management; 
with carefully selected and arranged courses of 
collateral reading by subjects. 

Such text-books of high grade are already 
available in abundance, but not all of them appear 
on the catalogues of denominational or Sunday- 
school publishing houses. The element of ecclesi- 
astical commercialism manifest in the multiplica- 
tion of made-to-order official courses and texts 
is a real menace to progress in the Sunday school. 
The greatest present need is that of educational 
ideals and educational leadership in denomina- 
tional and interdenominational Sunday-school 
movements. To such leadership there has always 
been a quick response on the part of earnest and 
progressive teachers everywhere;, and to such 
leadership in several strategic places we are to-day 
indebted for the new educational emphasis in 
Sunday-school work and for the prospect of 
better things in teacher-training as well as in 
graded courses of study for the Sunday school 
in the immediate future. 

There are really two distinct aspects of the 
problem of teacher-training, that of the profes- 
sional preparation of prospective teachers and 
that of the improvement of teachers in service. 
Of these the second is in many respects more 



Professional Preparation of Teachers 211 

important than the first. There is a constant 
temptation to regard the completion of a given \ 

course of preparatory training as a sufficient ! 

guarantee of permanent efficiency, whereas such ' 

preparatory training, at its best, cannot possibly , 

be a substitute for future diligent study and per- \ 

sistent effort toward self -improvement on the part ] 

of the individual. More valuable than any im- 1 

mediate equipment gained from any given ; 

teacher-training course is the professional ideal ; 

inculcated and the desire for even greater effi- j 

ciency stimulated. To inspire those already i 

engaged in the active service of teaching with 
high ideals and to provide all teachers with mani- 
fold opportunities for self -improvement and pro- 
fessional advancement is the first duty of the 
Church in providing for the training of its Sun- 
day-school teachers. 

The organization of training classes for pro- Training i 

spective teachers is provided for in the curricu- classes for 
lum of the graded school as outlined in Chapter Teachers^* 
VII. Such classes grouped together constitute i 

the Normal or Teacher Training Department of '\ 

the school, and the course of study for this de- j 

partment should cover a minimum of two years 
with a "two-period" session each Sunday, by 
which we mean that in the Normal Department 
of the Sunday school the regular session should \ 

be long enough to permit of being divided into i 

two periods, each from thirty-five to fifty min- i 

utes in length, thus permitting of a two-lesson 
system providing for two parallel courses, one ■] 

in Bible study and the other in the theory and 
method of teaching or in child study. Where the i 



212 The Graded Sunday School 

school meets in the afternoon this department 
might prolong its session for half an hour after 
the other departments of the school have been dis- 
missed. Where the "two-period" session is im- 
practicable the one lesson period should be sup- 
plemented by a class session held once a week 
apart from the school, perhaps in connection with 
the weekly teachers' meeting as suggested below. 
Such a two-year course in teacher-training would 
be about equivalent to the minimum requirement 
for one full year's work at college. A three-year 
course on the "two-period" plan plus an equal 
amount of work done in classes provided for 
teachers already in service, together with the 
experience acquired in actual teaching in the 
interim, would be equivalent to a three-year 
course of study in a creditable normal school. 
«* Teachers' The traditional teachers' meeting may be 

Meeting" Utilized to advantage. The evening devoted to it 

should be guarded against other encroaching 
engagements. The meeting itself should be 
the most profitable week-night meeting of the 
church. The time devoted to the meeting 
should be utilized to the utmost. The first 
forty-five to fifty minutes of the hour might 
be given each week to a lesson or lecture 
in a general course in Bible study, pedagogy, 
psychology, or child study. Following this the 
remainder of the evening might be given to group 
work, the teachers of each division or depart- 
ment of the school meeting together as a class 
for counsel and discussion of their peculiar 
department problems or for study. In either 
case this second part of the evening's program 



Professional Preparation of Teachers 2t3 



should be as carefully planned and as system- 
atically carried out as the first. The division or 
department superintendent should be in charge. 

Reading and study circles offer another means 
for the improvement of teachers in service. A 
well-selected reference library for teachers could 
be made the basis of material for the work of a 
circle of this character. The teachers of each 
department might form separate circles and 
report on their reading and study in the depart- 
mental gathering at the weekly teachers' meeting. 
Thus a given book of the Bible, period of Bible 
or missionary history, or text-book in pedagogy 
might form the basis of reports and discussions 
for a given number of evenings. Occasional book 
reviews and summaries of magazine reading bear- 
ing on Sunday-school teaching would be appro- 
priate. Everything, however, should be done 
according to definite plan, in order that there may 
be topical sequence and measurable progress in 
the work. 

Who shall be the teacher of teachers? Shall 
it be the pastor with his other responsibilities and 
duties? Or shall it be a specially employed 
director of religious instruction who shall at the 
same time be the paid superintendent of the 
school? In time no doubt it will be more gen- 
erally the latter. In churches so situated finan- 
cially as to be able to provide for any kind of 
pastor's assistant, the first investment should 
be in this field. 

Here also lies one of the greatest opportunities 
of the ministry. The next great revival in the 
Christian Church, we may confidently expect. 



Reading mod 
Study Circles 



The Teacher 
of Teachers 



A Teaching 
Ministry 



214 The Graded Sunday School 

will be a revival of religious education centering 
in the Sunday school. The new era upon which 
we are entering will demand a teaching ministry 
and a ministry of teaching in which the pastor 
must be the guide and leader of the educational 
forces in the Church. As a teacher of teachers 
it will be his privilege to exemplify by his own 
mastery of both subject-matter and method in 
religious instruction the high ideals of efficiency 
which should inspire his teachers in their work. 
This means that to the present equipment of 
pastors for their work must be added a thorough 
training in pedagogy, including the principles and 
philosophy of education, methods of teaching, 
and school management. What, if anything, may 
be omitted from the present curriculum of the 
theological seminary to make place for this train- 
ing we are not prepared to say. Perhaps the 
advanced requirements in Hebrew and Greek 
might be made optional and the departments of 
systematic and practical theology be adjusted to 
include the philosophy of education and the theory 
and practice of teaching, respectively. There is 
no more urgent demand made upon the theological 
seminary to-day than that it shall train and equip 
its students so as to qualify them to at least 
intelligently supervise the training of Sunday- 
school teachers. 



XX 

THE SCHOOL OF TO-MORROW 



Yesterday to-day was to-morrow, and to- Yesterday, 
morrow to-day will be yesterday. Institutions, To-day, and 

tM • 1- • 1 1 1 1 r 1 1 To-morrow 

like mdividuals, are the product of growth and 
development. There is a great difference be- 
tween a boy at five and the same boy at fifteen 
and again at fifty. Yet all that the man is to be 
in the prime of his mature development, all that 
he is to possess of force, judgment, social re- 
sponsiveness, and efficiency, is already present 
potentially in the lad and, to the experienced 
observer of human kind, already discernible in 
the youth. 

There is a vast difference between the simple in church 
Christian fellowship of apostolic times and the and Sunday 
highly organized Church of to-day; and there 
will be an even greater difference between the 
Church of the future and that of the present. 
Yet in the Church of the present that of the past 
and that of the future meet. So it is with every 
department of the Church to which the continual 
process of differentiation and specialization in its 
forms of work and service has given rise. So it 
is in the Sunday school. 

In forecasting the character of the Sunday The school 
school of to-morrow, on a basis of what in the of To-morrow 
preceding chapters we have discovered to be the 
general trend among progressive "up-to-date" 
schools of to-day, several distinguishing features 
of the coming Sunday school suggest themselves. 
215 



2l6 The Graded Sunday School 



A School 
in Pact 



Efficient 



Recognition 



Graded 
Curriculum 



The school of to-morrow will be a school in 
fact as well as in name. The emphasis and 
method in its work will be educational. The 
motive and aim will continue to be religious ; but 
with increasing knowledge of child life, and of 
the laws of physical and mental development, that 
aim will become more specific and the method of 
its attainment more scientific, and hence more 
trustworthy. 

This means greater efficiency and larger re- 
turns on the amount of time, effort, and money 
invested in the school. And with increased 
efficiency in the Sunday school there will come a 
better and a fuller appreciation of the great im- 
portance of its work to the church and to the 
community, and a disposition to accord to the 
Sunday school its rightful place of supreme im- 
portance among the agencies by means of which 
the Church undertakes to win men to the king- 
dom of heaven and to enlist them in unselfish 
Christian service for their fellow men. 

Being a school in fact, the Sunday school of 
to-morrow will be dominated by the educational 
ideal, and this ideal, because it is itself constantly 
advancing and expanding, .will be higher even 
than that ideal which is responsible for all that is 
best and most fraught with promise in the school 
of to-day. There will be a graded curriculum 
and one which provides proper care and nurture 
for the unfolding religious life at each successive 
stage of its development. This curriculum will be 
the product, not of chance or guess work, but of 
experience based on sound pedagogical principles. 
It will be better than the best available to-day, 



i 
The School of To-morrow 2I7 | 

because itself the outgrowth of a long series of j 

successive improvements resulting from intelli- | 

gent experimentation on the part of many pro- ) 
gressive schools. 

The Sunday school of to-morrow will be Properly ! 
properly housed and equipped. Specialized work housed 

demands a special workshop. It is easier to ; 
preach to adults crowded between the seats and 

desks of a country schoolhouse than to teach j 

properly in a church auditorium. It is safe to < 

say that the Sunday-school architecture of to- | 

morrow will be as far in advance of that of ; 

to-day as the best and most serviceable Sunday- i 

school building of the present is in advance of the j 

one-room church building of a generation ago in | 

its adaptability for Sunday-school purposes. j 

Among the working principles which will | 

govern the construction of the Sunday-school \ 
building of the immediate future will be included 
the following : 

1. It will be a school building and not simply construction i 
an auditorium or room for general assembly. Principles ^ 
The school and its needs will be the starting 

point in planning the building. 

2. Each grade and department will be com- 
fortably housed in a separate room or group of i 
rooms. \ 

3. The separate classroom will be the unit. Its J 
necessary space dimensions, height of ceiling, ; 
size and placing of windows, etc., together with \ 
the number of rooms needed, will determine the j 
plan of the building as a whole. 

4. A general assembly hall, while desirable, \ 
will not be considered an essential. Upon rare 



2l8 The Graded Sunday School 

occasions when it may be desirable to have the 
entire school assemble together, the church audi- 
torium will take the place of the special Sunday- 
school auditorium for all churches of moderate 
means. Pedagogically it would be considered 
better to separate at least the Beginners, Primary, 
and Junior Departments from the main school 
and from each other during the entire session, 
adapting the opening and closing exercises in 
each department to its especial needs. 

5. The number of separate classrooms needed 
will depend upon the enrollment of the several 
departments. A separate room for each of the 
following departments would seem to be the 
minimum: Beginners, Primary, Junior, Inter- 
mediate, Senior, Advanced or Adult. Where the 
department enrollments are large, with all grades 
of the department represented, a separate room 
for each grade group above the Beginners would 
be ideal. 
Furniture In the matter of furniture and equipment the 

and Equip- schoolroom and its needs rather than the audi- 
torium or general assembly hall will be kept in 
mind. For the Beginners Department there 
will be kindergarten chairs and tables, with 
other furniture permitting of the arrangement of 
large and small pictures and objects within easy 
reach of the pupils. For the Primary and Junior 
Departments suitable tables and materials for 
modeling in sand, paper cutting, the mounting of 
pictures, drawing, etc., will be provided. In the 
higher grades of the Intermediate and Senior 
Department tables or desks such as are used in 
public-school work, blackboards, maps, charts, 



ment 



The School of To-morrow 



219 



and alcoves for reference and supplemental books 
^ill be provided. 

In the coming Sunday-school classroom the 
work done will be directed and presided over by 
trained teachers. The standard of teacher-train- 
ing in the future will be in keeping with the 
character of the work expected of the school as a 
whole. Here as in every other department of the 
Sunday school the introduction of the graded 
curriculum will bring with it a quick and radical 
change for the better. Indeed, a course of study 
constructed on right pedagogical principles can 
yield its best results only in the hands of teachers 
who understand those principles and the methods 
by which in each grade the aims of the course of 
study can be best achieved and who understand 
also the pupils to whose spiritual and religious 
needs the work of each grade is intended 
especially to minister. 

Considered from the standpoint of the work of 
the church in its entirety, the Sunday school of 
to-morrow will be valued at its full worth. This 
has not been the case with the Sunday school of 
the past, which has been called upon not only to 
bear the burden of its own support, but to bear 
the burden also for the major part of the support 
of many other church enterprises. The work of 
the Bible school itself must come to be recog- 
nized as of first importance, and the school must 
not be regarded as in any sense a convenient 
adjunct institution for the raising of funds for all 
sorts of benevolent enterprises. Not that the 
Sunday school of the future will not be interested 
in its own expenditures or in church benevo- 



Trained 
Teachers 



Valued at Full 
Worth 



220 The Graded Sunday School 

lences, but rather that the school itself will first 
of all be considered in the annual budget of the 
church, and its financial needs provided for in the 
same way as the pastor's salary or any other item 
in the annual list of church expenditures. There 
will be instruction in the Sunday school in sys- 
tematic giving, and an intelligent interest in every 
benevolent enterprise of the local and general 
church will be inculcated; but the giving ex- 
pected of the pupils will not be as now in hap- 
hazard response to emotional appeals recurring 
with methodical regularity, nor yet in response to 
an unwholesome spirit of rivalry in the matter of 
giving by classes. 
Right of Way Bccausc valucd at its full worth the Sunday 
school of the future will be given right of way as 
the educational arm of the church. It is rapidly 
coming to be recognized that the work of the 
church in the community is one of preservation 
and nurture more largely even than it is a work 
of rescue. With the gathering in of the children 
of the community into the Sunday school and the 
introduction of wise and systematic methods of 
instruction, based upon a proper understanding 
of child life and its needs, it may reasonably be 
expected that the work of the school will yield 
infinitely larger returns in the proper religious 
training of all or a majority of the children of the 
community than has heretofore been considered 
* possible. 
The Pastor's In the Sunday school of to-morrow the pastor 

Opportunity ^-ji j-g^oguize his suprcme opportunity. He will 
become a teacher as well as a preacher. His will 
be in many instances the work of a teacher of 



The School of To-morrow 221 | 

teachers for his school. But for this new and i 

larger educational work which will devolve upon j 

him the pastor will himself need special prep- i 
aration. The higher institutions of learning, 

supported and controlled by the Church, and i 

especially the theological seminaries, will take ] 

cognizance of this need and provide in their ; 

curricula of instruction the necessary courses in .; 
pedagogy, psychology, and child study. 

The Sunday school of to-morrow, finally, will a Progressive 
be a progressive institution. Its face will be institution 

turned toward the ever-expanding future. For it ; 
the past will have lessons of value, but no fetters. '" | 

The ever-changing present will be indicative of 1 

the momentum and the trend of progress. Sue- ] 

cess will be measured by power of initiative and 1 

of self-direction, balanced by a proper apprecia- ': 

tion of and adherence to working principles al- i 

ready established. The evidences of growth and | 
progress, together with larger spiritual and social 

returns, will make both the field and the mission j 

of the Sunday school seem more worth while to I 

men and women of superior ability. The chal- ! 

lenge of the harvest with its multiplied opportu- ! 

nities for usefulness will enlist the services of | 

many now indifferent to the need and value of ] 

religious instruction. I 

It may not be given to many to choose whether our piace { 

in the great army of Sunday-school workers of \ 

to-morrow they shall occupy a position in the 1 

van or in the rear. But, whatever his place may \ 

be, every earnest worker may accept it as prob- i 

able that he has been providentially placed where ^ 

he is. And wherever he may be, and however ] 



222 The Graded Sunday School 

difficult may be his particular field of labor, there 
is a word of encouragement for everyone. It is 
possible for every one to keep to the front in his 
thinking and reading. It is possible to ever 
more thoroughly equip himself for the particular 
service he is called upon to render. Then if it be 
not the privilege of every one to be a standard- 
bearer, and to march in the van, there will be no 
small degree of satisfaction in feeling that one is 
at least rendering intelligent as well as valuable 
and necessary service in bringing up the rear. 



APPENDICES 



APPENDIX A 

SUMMARY BY CHAPTERS, WITH QUESTIONS 
FOR REVIEW 

This appendix is added for the convenience of indi- 
viduals and classes desiring to use this Manual as a 
text-book for study. It is especially adapted for 
Teacher-Training classes. 

PART ONE 
The Graded Sunday School in Principle 

Chapter I. The Educational Emphasis in the 

Work of the Sunday School 

Summary 

Among the Hebrews and during the early Christian 
centuries all education was dominated by the religious 
motive and aim. The broadening of the scope and 
aim of education in modern times has resulted largely 
from the rapid industrial development and material 
prosperity, and the consequent demand for a larger 
recognition of science, art, and literature in public 
education. 

The Sunday school in its origin and early history, 
both in England and America, was a charitable insti- 
tution designed for the secular instruction of the poor 
and neglected classes. In America it has since grad- 
ually become the recognized institution for specialized 
elementary instruction in religion and morals. 

The present-day educational emphasis in Sunday- 
school work is a revival rather than an innovation, 
and does not necessarily conflict with the deeper reli- 
gious purpose in Sunday-school work. 

Questions 

Who were the teachers and educational leaders in 

Israel? From what centers did the educational and 

cidtural influences of the Hebrew nation radiate? 

How were church and school related in the Middle 

225 



226 The Graded Sunday School 

Ages? What change took place in this relationship in 
post- Reformation times? What has been the tend- 
ency in modern times? What are some of the limi- 
tations and disadvantages under which the Sunday- 
school of to-day labors ? How may these be overcome? 

Chapter II. The Teacher: Place and Essential 

Qualifications 

Summary 

The determining factors in religious as in secular 
education are the pupil, the teacher, and the course 
of study or curriculum. The problem of the teacher 
relates itself to both the pupil and the curriculum, to 
the learner and to the subject-matter of instruction. 

The essential qualifications of a teacher include 
first of all a thorough mastery of his subject and an 
adequate knowledge and understanding of his pupils. 
Such knowledge gives to the teacher self-confidence 
and a right sense of perspective in his work. In the 
pupil it stimulates interest and enthusiasm and re- 
spect for the teacher. 

Questions 
In what sense must the teacher regard truth? State 
briefly the problem of the teacher. What do you 
understand by the process of learning? Indicate the 
scope of the Sunday-school teacher's essential knowl- 
edge touching the Bible. Indicate some of the things 
outside of Bible knowledge with which he must be 
familiar. In what way does a graded course of study 
make possible a better knowledge of the subject on 
the part of the teacher? In what sense must the 
teacher know his pupils ? , 

Chapter III. The Pupil: Complex Nature op 
Consciousness 
Summary 
The means by which the religious consciousness and 
life unfold are those of feeling, knowing, and willing. 
Of these three elements that of feeling is fundamental. 
In religious education the cultivation of the emotional 
life is of the utmost importance. The desirable re- 
ligious emotions include those of reverence, adoration, 
aspiration, and love. 



Appendix A 227 

The intellectual factor in religious education is 
important both in the culture of the higher re- 
ligious emotions and in the training of the will. It 
is a safeguard against superstition and sentimental 
emotionalism. 

The power of free choice and the extent to which it 
determines action are sometimes overestimated. Re- 
ligious education in order to bring about the right 
choices upon a rational plane in later life must in the 
earlier years wisely stimulate and direct correct 
instinctive tendencies, inculcate high ideals, and aid 
in the formation of right habits. 

Questions 
Why is the position of the pupil central in the 
problem of education? Upon what does perfect devel- 
opment in the child depend? Why is the element of 
feeling fundamental in the religious life? How is the 
element of feeling related to that of knowing, and 
how to that of willing? What constitutes the knowl- 
edge content of religion ? How are the ideals of beauty, 
truth, and holiness related in the religious life? 

Chapter IV. The Pupil: Infancy and Childhood 
Summary 

Four great periods may be distinguished in the life 
process of individuals, namely : Childhood, Adolescence, 
Vigorous Maturity, and Senile Decay. Education is 
concerned primarily with childhood and adolescence, 
the great significance of which is the plastic condition 
of the individual which makes learning possible. 

During childhood the foundations of character are 
laid in the formation of right habits of cleanliness, 
order, obedience, frankness, and loyalty toward 
parents and teachers. Religious training during this 
period should inculcate reverence and love for the 
heavenly Father, furnish the child with a stock of 
images expressing life in its true relations, and provide 
the child with simple forms of expressive activity, 
through which the life of the spirit may find an outlet. 

With boyhood and girlhood and the dawning self 
and social consciousness there comes the first marked 
spiritual awakening with a growing interest in re- 
ligious privileges and duties and the desire for per- 
sonal friendships. These furnish the points of contact 
for the religious teacher. 



228 The Graded Sunday School 

Questions 
What are the distinguishing characteristics of in- 
fancy and early childhood ? Of boyhood and girlhood ? 
What is the significance of childhood for the develop- 
ment of the religious life ? What should be the specific 
aim, means, and methods of religious training during 
early childhood? During boyhood and girlhood? 

Chapter V. The Pupil: Early Adolescence 
Summary 

Adolescence, the age between childhood and ma- 
turity, is a period of physiological and psychological 
new birth — out of childhood into maturity, out of 
egoism and isolation into altruism and society. 

Early adolescence is preeminently the age of 
sentiment and changing moods, of symbolism and 
ceremony, of developing capacities and ideals, of 
hero-worship, the gang impulse, and the desire for 
personal friendships. These traits indicate the points 
of contact for the teacher. 

The transition from the narrower to the broader 
notions of religion, from the objective and impersonal 
to the subjective and personal religious experience, 
makes adolescence a period of religious crisis. Re- 
ligious training should aim to develop high personal 
ideals, an intelligent understanding and appreciation 
of the symbolism of religious rites and ceremonies, and 
a conscious personal acceptance of Christ on the part 
of the pupil. 

Questions 

Indicate more in detail the general characteristics 
of the period of Adolescence. What changes take 
place in the normally developing religious life of the 
individual during this period? What, according to 
Dr. Hall, is the educational ideal of this period? What 
place and value has the service of confirmation in the 
religious life of this period? In what sense is early 
adolescence a period of religious crisis? 

Chapter VI. The Pupil: Middle and Later 

Adolescence 

Summary 

Middle adolescence is characterized by increased 

emotional capacity, the rapid developing and matur- 



Appendix A 229 

ing of the mental powers and greater independence in 
matters of faith and conscience. This is the period of 
the attainment of reHgious freedom and of most 
frequent conversion. 

The aims of religious instruction during middle 
adolescence should be (i) to lead the individual pupil 
to a voluntary assumption of his religious and social 
obligations; (2) the cultivation of higher altruistic 
feelings and (3) the direction of these into definite 
channels of usefulness. 

Later adolescence is characterized by (i) constant 
and abiding devotion and enthusiasm; (2) the recon- 
struction of the individual's thought system and the 
adoption of a life philosophy; and (3) the assumption 
of full social and civic responsibilities. 

It is apt to be a period of intellectual struggle and 
doubt. It calls for broad studies in life problems, 
Christian doctrine, and civic and social service. 

Questions 
What more in detail are the emotional, intellectual, 
and religious characteristics of middle adolescence? Of 
later adolescence? What new significance does per- 
sonal religious experience gain during middle ado- 
lescence? Indicate different types of conversion that 
may be considered "normal." Why is middle ado- 
lescence especially a period of religious crisis? How 
should intellectual doubt in matters of religion be 
dealt with ? 

Chapter VII. The School: Scheme of Organiza- 
tion AND Grading 

Summary 

Thorough grading in the Sunday school implies the 
use of graded lesson material, measurable progress, 
annual promotions, and the organization of the school 
into grades, departments, and divisions. 

The three general divisions, with their respective 
departmental subdivisions, are as follows: (i) E)le- 
mentary Division (ages i to 12), Cradle Roll, Begin- 
ners, Primary, and Junior departments; (2) Secondary 
Division (ages 13 to 20), Intermediate, Senior, and 
Teacher-Training or Normal departments; (3) Ad- 
vanced Division (adults), graduate courses and 
organized adult classes. This scheme of organization 
will be flexible, although deficient pupils should, as a 



230 The Graded Sunday School 

rule, be cared for in special classes and not be permit- 
ted to interfere with the system of grading. 

Questions 
What two things are to be considered in a graded 
curriculum? Show that the scheme of grading pro- 
posed in this chapter is in harmony with public school 
usage. How many departments, grades, teachers, and 
rooms are required for the Elementary Division? 
Where in the scheme of grading do the organized 
Bible classes belong? The teacher- training classes? 

Chapter VIII. The Curriculum or Subject- 
Matter of Instruction 

Summary 

In selecting the subject materials of Sunday-school 
instruction consideration must be given to the emo- 
tional life, the intellect, and the will. 

In the cultivation of the emotional side of the re- 
ligious life the general atmosphere, appointments, 
order, program, and conduct of the school, as well as 
the music and worship forms, are important. Hero- 
portraiture, the cultivation of the religious emotions, 
and the inculcation of high personal ideals have each 
a rightful place in the curriculum. 

But knowledge also is essential to virtue. The 
course of study itself, while Biblio-centric, will take 
cognizance of all truth. Hence extra-biblical material 
also will be used in the lesson courses. 

The final problem in religious education is how to 
secure the desired response of the will in right action. 
This must be largely the result of proper training and 
of habituation in the earlier periods of religious devel- 
opment. The attainment of religious maturity and the 
establishment of high standards of life and conduct 
constitute the aim and goal of religious instruction. 

Questions 

State in difEerent ways the threefold demand made 
upon religious instruction as pointed out in the first 
paragraph. Describe "the schoolroom beautiful." Why 
is knowledge essential to virtue? What extra-biblical 
materials will the Sunday-school curriculum naturally 
include? How do moral standards develop? 



Appendix A 23 1 

PART TWO 

The Graded Sunday School in its Historical Development 

Chapter IX. Early Beginnings in the Inter- 
national Field 

Summary 

The influence of public-school example is discernible 
in the early development of systematic instruction in 
the Sunday school. Sunday-school institutes and 
conventions were modeled after similar gatherings in 
the field of public education. The convention idea 
rather than that of the institute has predominated in 
Sunday-school work. 

The International Uniform Lesson System, adopted 
in 1872, was preceded by several other less generally 
accepted though equally good systems. The adoption 
of the uniform system was brought about with great 
difficulty and largely through the untiring efforts of a 
few earnest advocates of uniformity, notably Mr. F. B. 
Jacobs and Dr. J. H. Vincent. 

Questions 
When and where was the first normal class for the 
training of Sunday-school teachers organized? The 
first Sunday-school teachers' institute ^held ? The first 
national Sunday school convention ?j 'The last inter- 
national convention? Where was the first Sunday- 
school journal published? By whom was it edited? 
When was the International Lesson System adopted? 
Mention two systems that preceded this. 

Chapter X. The International Uniform Lessons 
Summary 

The International Uniform Lesson System has been 
of service in (i) its unifying influence upon the work 
of the Sunday school, (2) making possible concentra- 
tion of effort and the production of a high grade of 
Sunday-school literature at a low cost, (3) inculcating 
the spirit of cooperation and enthusiasm. 

The inherent defect of the system is that the prin- 
ciple of uniformity upon which it rests is contrary to 
every recognized principle of child study and religious 
pedagogy. It wholly ignores the changing needs of 
the developing child life. 



232 The Graded Sunday School 

With the transfer of emphasis to the educational 
aim and work of the Sunday school a change from 
uniform to graded lessons became imperative. 

Questions 
How is the International Lesson Committee con- 
stituted? What is the work of this Committee? Of 
what value has the machinery of the International 
Sunday School Association been in the development 
of Sunday-school work and lesson courses? Criticise 
the Uniform Lesson System and illustrate by an 
example taken from this series of lessons. 

Chapter XI. Steps Toward the Graded System 

Summary 

The need of graded lesson material was first keenly 
felt in the Beginners and Primary departments of the 
school. A two-year Beginners course of lessons was 
outlined by the Denver Convention in 1902. 

Since 1902 the progress toward thoroughly graded 
courses, though gradual, has been rapidly cumulative. 
A completely graded course of study for the Sunday 
school was authorized by the Louisville Convention in 
1908. 

Important events prior to the Louisville Conven- 
tion bearing upon the ultimate outcome were the 
Toronto Convention (1905), London Conference (1907), 
and the Boston Conference (1908). Among the forces 
contributing to the forward movement are to be noted 
denominational initiative, the Religious Education As- 
sociation, and the Sunday School Editorial Association. 

Questions 
What part did the National Primary Teachers' 
Union play in the movement toward graded instruc- 
tion in the Sunday school? What was the Boston 
Conference ? What action did it take ? What influence 
did the following factors exert toward the adoption of 
graded courses, (i) Independent experimentation of 
individual schools? (2) Bible Study Union or Blakes- 
lee courses? (3) Denominational initiative? Explain 
the aims and methods of work of the Religious Educa- 
tion Association. Of the Sunday School Editorial 
Association. 



Appendix A 233 

PART THREE 

The Graded Sunday School in Practice 

Chapter XIL Three University Schools 

Summary 

The Sunday-school movement in America is in- 
debted for much of its progress along educational 
lines to the criticism and suggestion emanating from 
certain university centers, which have furnished spe- 
cial educational facilities and favorable conditions for 
experimentation in the use of graded courses of in- 
struction for the Sunday school. 

The two outstanding educational principles upon 
which the work of these experimental or "model" 
Sunday schools is based are (i) the principle of 
self-expression, demanding for its realization the 
manual method of instruction; and (2) the principle 
of grading applied to the material of instruction in a 
scientifically graded curriculum. 

Questions 
What three university Sunday schools are described 
in this chapter? Indicate the points in which all are 
alike. In what sense may these schools be termed 
"model" Sunday schools? In what respects are they 
not models? Do the same educational principles hold 
good in secular and in religious education? 

Chapter XIII. Other Typical Schools 

Summary 

The ideal of a thoroughly graded course of study 
for the Sunday school is within the reach of every 
average school. The lack of suitable classroom facili- 
ties, perfect equipment, or an expert teaching force 
does not constitute an insurmountable barrier to the 
introduction of graded curricula or manual methods. 

Graded religious instruction in the Sunday school 
is no longer an experiment, since graded courses and 
text-books have found wide acceptance. 

Questions 

In what respects does each of the schools described 

in this chapter differ from those mentioned in chapter 

XII? What advantages and what disadvantages are 

there in dividing the school into two sessions? Why 



234 The Graded Sunday School * 

are manual methods essential in graded Sunday-school 
work? Could manual methods be used to equal ad- 
vantage in connection with a uniform lesson? 

Chapter XIV. Denominational and Independent 

Courses and Text-Books 

Summary 

Various denominations as well as individuals have 
long interested themselves in graded courses of in- 
struction for the Sunday school. Prominent among 
these have been the Protestant Episcopal Church, 
the Friends' First-Day Association, and various 
Lutheran synods, all of which have never been very 
closely affiliated with the International Sunday School 
Association or the International Lesson System. 

Independent courses and text-books have also been 
prepared by individuals and societies. Among these 
the Bible Study Union courses (new series) and the 
University of Chicago texts are the most noteworthy. 
An Outline for a Bible School Curriculum, by Pro- 
fessor George William Pease, also deserves mention. 

Questions 
How has the Joint Sunday School Commission of 
the Protestant Episcopal Church aided the develop- 
ment of better courses of instruction for the Sunday 
school? According to the statement of principles 
prepared by this Joint Commission, what should be the 
aim and what the teaching material for each depart- 
ment of the graded Sunday school? Does the Board 
of Education of the Diocese of Massachusetts in its 
outline course for the Primary department follow the 
suggestion of the Joint Commission touching aim and 
teaching material? How does the Bible Study Union 
course (new series) differ either in aim or material for 
each department from the Joint Commission outline? 
Compare and contrast the Friends' First-Day Associa- 
tion outline with that of Professor Pease. 

Chapter XV. The International Graded Course 
Summary 
The International Graded Course of Study for the 
Sunday school is the rich fruitage of years of increas- 
ingly successful experimentation upon the part of 
individual schools and denominations. It incorporates 



Appendix A 235 

in itself the best features of the courses already 
described. 

The entire course is arranged in units of one year, 
and may therefore be used with any departmental 
system of organization, although the grouping of the 
work into departments as indicated is in harmony 
with the generally accepted usage in American Sun- 
day schools. The several grade courses are planned 
to begin in October and end in June, although work 
for the entire year is provided in each case. 

The course aims to meet the spiritual needs of the 
pupil at each stage of his development. The knowl- 
edge already in the possession of the pupil from his 
public-school work as well as the average natural 
ability of pupils at every given age has been con- 
sidered in the selection of the subject-material for 
the several departmental courses. 

Questions 
Give the specific aim of the Beginners, Primary, 
Junior, and Intermediate sections of the International 
Graded Courses. How is the subject-matter for Be- 
ginners and Primary work treated? How was the 
Junior course constructed ? What extra-biblical mate- 
rial is used in the Junior course ? In the Intermediate 
course? What is the value of the studies in lessons 40 
to 52 of the first year Intermediate? 

Chapter XVI. Grading the Local School 
Summary 
There are two methods of grading the local Sunday 
school: (i) The simultaneous, or abrupt method, and 
(2) the gradual method. The simultaneous method 
aims to inaugurate a completely graded course of 
study for the whole school at one time, and requires 
most thorough preparation in advance. The gradual 
method begins at the bottom of the school or of a 
department, and introduces graded courses one year's 
work at a time, or as rapidly as classes are prepared 
to do the work. For most schools the gradual method 
of grading will be the better, though the work of 
grading may be begun and carried forward simul- 
taneously in several departments. 

Questions 
What are the preliminary steps necessary to the 
actual grading of a Sunday school? On whom does 



236 The Graded Sunday School 

the responsibility for thoroughly grading the school 
rest? What are the relative advantages of each of 
the two methods of grading described? Are these 
advantages the same for all departments of the school ? 

Chapter XVII. Supervising the Graded School 
Summary 

Denominational or church control and supervision 
of the Sunday school makes for strength, permanency, 
and educational efficiency. This supervision may be 
exercised by the church through the school or educa- 
tional committee and the regularly appointed super- 
visory officers of the school. 

The Sunday-school superintendent should be a 
supervisor of instruction as well as an executive 
director of the school. Given the essential educa- 
tional as well as exefiutive qualifications, the sui^er- 
vising superintendent should be given large authority, 
be made responsible to the church through its educa- 
tional committee, and be paid for his services. 

There should be a supervising superintendent for 
each division and a supervising teacher or superin- 
tendent for each department. 

Questions 
How may congregational interest in the Sunday 
school be secured? How should the Sunday School 
Board be related to the educational or school com- 
mittee? What in detail will be the duties of the 
supervising superintendent ? Of a supervising teacher 
within a department? In what does the supervision 
of the work of teachers consist? What is a lesson 
plan, and what is its value? What latitude should 
be given to teachers in their work? What need can 
there be of revising a good course of study? 

Chapter XVIII. Supervising the Graded School 
(Continued) 
Summary 
Tests and examinations rightly conducted have a 
place in the Sunday school. They are of value pri- 
marily to the pupil ; should constitute a review of the 
main points of the work covered; should ordinarily be 
prepared and conducted by the tea-cher and not be 
too frequent. 



Appendix A 237 

Promotions in the Sunday school should be made 
on the twofold basis of merit and religious maturity. 
Final authority in the matter of promotion should 
rest with the general superintendent or educational 
supervisor of the school. 

There should be a proper gradation of recognition 
forms, including certificates and diplomas, which should 
not be given too frequently. School, departmental, 
and grade records and reports should be made out 
according to a well-defined system, responsibility for 
which should rest with the supervising officer or 
officers of the school. 

Questions 
In what specific ways may examinations and tests 
prove helpful to the pupil ? To the teacher ? Indicate 
a satisfactory gradation of recognition forms for the 
Sunday school. What record of the individual pupil's 
work should the teacher keep? How often should 
reports be sent to parents? What should be the 
nature of such reports ? 

Chapter XIX. The Professional Preparation 

AND Advancement of Teachers 

Summary 

The adequate training of Sunday-school teachers 
involves three factors: (i) Knowledge of subject- 
matter; (2) Kjiowledge of pedagogical principles and 
methods; and (3) Actual practice in teaching. 

The problem of teacher- training has two aspects: 
that of the professional preparation of prospective 
teachers, and that of the improvement of teachers in 
service. Prospective teachers will be cared for in the 
Teacher-Training or Normal Department of the school 
and in special week-day classes. The means available 
for the improvement of teachers in service are teachers' 
meetings, reading and study circles, and various aids 
to self -improvement. 

Questions 
What percentage of the present teaching force in 
American Sunday schools have completed any sort of 
teacher- training course? What are the International 
requirements in teacher- training according to the 
standards adopted by the Philadelphia Conference? 
What is the greatest present need in this field ? What 



^3^ The Graded Sunday School 

should be the program for a teachers* meeting? What 
should be the pastor's relation to teacher- training ? 

Chapter XX. The School of To-Morrow 
Summary 

We may forecast the character of the Sunday school 
of to-morrow from the obvious trend among progres- 
sive "up-to-date" schools of to-day. 

Judged from this standpoint the school of to-morrow 
will be (i) a school in fact with a graded curriculum 
and trained teachers; (2) properly housed and equipped 
because valued at its full worth; (3) given right of 
way; (4) an efficient and progressive institution. 

It is possible for everyone to more thoroughly equip 
himself for the particular service he is called upon to 
render, and to keep to the front in his thinking and 
reading. 

Questions 

What are the working principles that should govern 
the construction of the Sunday-school building? How 
should a Sunday-school building be furnished and 
equipped? In what sense does the Sunday school 
offer to the pastor his greatest field of opportunity? 
What are the indications of a progressive spirit in 
Sunday-school work? 



APPENDIX B 
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Administration of Education in the United States 
(1908). S. T. Button and David Snedden. 

Adolescence. 2 vols. (1907). G. Stanley Hall. 

An Outline of a Bible School Curriculum (1904). 
George William Pease. 

Annual Reports of American Sunday School Union. 
Bound volumes. 

BeitrSge zur 100 jahrigen Geschichte der Sonntag- 
schulen. Robert Koenig, in Monatsschrift iiir 
Innere Mission 1883. 

Child and the Curriculum, The. John Dewey. 

Development of the Sunday School (178 0-1905). 
Official Report Eleventh International Sunday 
School Convention, Toronto, 1905. 

Education in Religion and Morals (1907). George 

Albert Coe. 
Educational Psychology. E. L. Thomdike. 
Educative Process, The. W. C. Bagley. 
Elements of General Method (1903). C. A. McMurry. 
Essentials of Method (1892). Charies DeGarmo. 

Fundamentals of Child Study (1907). E. A. Kirk- 
patrick. 

Geschichte der Sonntagschulen. Reinhard. 

Home School and Vacation (1907). Annie W. Allen, 
How to Conduct the Sunday School (1905). Marion 

Lawrance. 
How to Plan a Lesson (1904). Marianna C. Brown. 
How to Study — Teaching How to Study (1909). F. M. 

McMurry. 

Important Epochs in the History of Sunday Schools. 
Rice. 

Jewish Encyclopedia. The. Articles on Education, 
Schools, and Synagogue. 
239 



240 The Graded Sunday School 

Lesson System, The (1879). Simeon Gilbert. 

Making of a Teacher, The (1905). Martin G. Brum- 
baugh. 

Meaning of Education, The (1904). Nicholas Murray 
Butler. 

Modern Sunday School in Principle and Practice, The 
(1907). H. F. Cope. 

Moral Principles in Education (1909). John Dewey. 

Natural Way, The (1903). Patterson DuBois. 

(Economy of Charity (London, 1801). Trimmer. 

Organized Sunday School Work in America. 1905- 
1908. Official Report Twelfth International Sun- 
day School Convention, Louisville, 1908. 

Pamphlets and Reports in the Historical Society of 
Pennsylvania Library, filed under the following 
index titles: First Day Schools; Sabbath Schools; 
Sunday Schools; White, William. 

Pedagogical Bible School, The (1905). Haslett. 

Philosophy of Education, The (1907). H. H. Home. 

Primer on Teaching, with Special Reference to Sunday 
School Work. John Adams. 

Principles and Ideals for the Sunday School (1903). 
E. D. Burton and Shailer Mathews. 

Principles of Religious Education (1901). Nicholas 
Murray Butler and others. A course of lectures 
delivered before the New York Sunday School 
Commission. 

Principles of Teaching (1906). E. L. Thomdike. 

Psychology. 2 vols. (1890). William James. 

Psychology, Briefer Course (1892). William James. 

Psychological Principles of Education (1906). tl. H. 
Home. 

Psychology of Religion, The (1908). E. D. Starbuck. 

Religion of a Mature Mind, The (1902). George Albert 

Coe. 
Report of Teacher-Training Conference, January 7-8, 

1908. Pamphlet. 
Reports of the Triennial International Sunday School 

Conventions from 1 869-1 908, inclusive. 
Robert Raikes. Harris. 

School Administration (1906). J. T. Prince. 



Appendix B 24 1 

School Reports and School Efficiency. Allen and 

Snedden. 
School and Society, The (1907). John Dewey. 
Social Psychology (1908). E. A. Ross. 
Spiritual Life, The (1900). George Albert Coe. 
Study of the Child, The (1900). A. B. Taylor. 
Study of History in the Elementary Schools (1909). 

Report to the American Historical Association by 

the Committee of Eight. 
Sunday School Journal, The (1906). Bound volume. 
Sunday School Movements in America (1901). Mari- 

anna C. Brown. 
Sunday School Problems (1905). Amos R. Wells. 
Sunday Schools the World Around. Official Report 

World's Fifth Sunday School Convention, 1907. 

Talks to Teachers. William James. 

Types of Religious Experience. William James. 

Yale Lectures on the Sunday School (1888). H. Clay 
Trumbull. 



MAY 4 1910 



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